Digitized by the Internet Arciiive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/churchstateormex01clou 



^^ ^S^\ 



•t"^^ 




CHURCH AND STATE 



MEXICAN POLITICS 



FROM 



CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 



'iON 1 Y899 



3y Wv'^K. CIvOLT]^. J-S^i^ 7/. 



SOI. DUCK OF TWO WARS. 
F/R5T SERGEANT "k," CO. 2D OHIO, MEXICAN WAR, 

COLONEL 2d Kansas cavalry, 18625. 



KANSAS CITY, MO. 

PECK & CLARK, PRINTERS'. 

— iSgS. — 






Kntered, according- to an Act of Congress, in the year JS96. by 

COI,. W. F. CI,OUD, 

In the Office of the I^ibrarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



O i^^:' 7 



Klectrotyped by Carlton & Rose, Kansas City. 



"Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty " 
TO the; above sentiment 

THIS VOI^UME IS APPROVINGIvY DEDICATED. 

W. pi". OlvOOD. 

Kansas City, Mo. 



CONTKNTTS. 



Book I. 

PAGE 

Chapter I. — Introduction, - - - ii 

Chapter II. — 1/192101521, - ... 25 

Discovery. Conquest and Occupation of Mexico. 
Chapter III. — 1521 to 180S, .... 36 

Viceroys. Policies. Inhunuuiit}'. Corruption. 
Chapter IV.— iSoSto iSii, ... - 48 

Hidalgo. El grito de Dolores. Battles. Defeat. Death. 
Chapter V. — iSii to 1821, ... "66 

Hidalgo's Successors. Overthrow of Revolution. 
Chapter VI. — iS2rtoiS23, - ... 80 

Mexico Indeperident. Iturbide Kmperor. Career. 

Death. 

Chapter VII. — 1823 to 1S31, - - - - 92 

Mexico a Republic. Insurrections. Tragedies. ' 
Chapter VIII. — 1831101844, . . . . 106 

Santa Anna President. Dictator. Overthrow. 
Chapter IX.— 1844 to 1855, . . . . nS 

Santa Anna rc-eEtablished. Banished. War vpith U. S. 

More of Santa Anna as President and Refugee. 

Chapter X. — 1855 to 1S58, . - . . 132 

Many Presidents. Revolutions. Confiscation of Church 

Property.. 

Chapter XI. — 1858 to 1859, - . . - 143 

Juarez President. Zuloaga Church President. War. 

War. War. 

Chapter XII. — 1859101861, - - - - 154 

Continued War. Juarez triumphant. Church defeated. 
Chapter XIII.— 1861 to 1863, - - - - 166 

Many reforms. Church secures foreign intervention. 
Chapter XIV.— 1863 to 1864, - - - - 176 

Maximilliaa Crowned Emperor. Monroe Doctrine. 



6 CONTENTS. 

FAOK 

Chapter XV.— 1864 to 1866, - - - 186 

Maximillian a failure. Frencli evacuate. Carlote 

insane. 

Chapter XVI.— 1866 to 1867, - - - 196 

Maximillian overthrown. !E)xecut=d. Unvailing sym- 

patliy. 

Chapter XVII. — 1867 to 1872, ... - 203 

Juarez re-elected. Many reforms. Death of Juarez. 
ChapterXVIII.— 1872 to 1878, - . - - 208 

lyerdo President. Revolution. Diaz President. 
Chapter XIX.— 1878 to 1880, - - - - 216 

Biography of Diaz. Reforms. Declines re-election. 
Chapter XX. — 1880 to 1895, - - . - 227 

Gonzalez President. Diaz President three terms. 

Grand progress and elevation of people. 

Chapter XXI. ..-..-. 236 

Chronological Table of Governors of Mexico. 
Chapter XXII. -..-._ 240 

Miscellaneous facts. 
ChapTEP.. XXIII. . - - - . 259 

Bull Fight. 
Chapter XXIV. .... . 265 

Rome under X Rays. 

Book II. 

History of Texas atid of tho Mexican War. 

Chapter I. — Introduction - - - - 3 

Chapter II. — Texas. 1684 to 1836, ... g 

Discovery and occupation. A Mexican State. Outrages. 
Chapter III.— 1836 to 1845, - - - - 19 

Gains Independence. Annexed to the United States. 
Chapter IV. — Mexican War. 1845 to 1848, - - 32 

Taylor's Battles and Victories. 
Chapter v.— 1848, - - - - - 43 

Scott captures Vera Cruz and City of Mexico. Peace. 
Numbers of Army and Navy. The dead. 



PRKKACK. 



The doors to the temple of Janus were thrown wide 
open in 1S46 and two nations, Mexico and the United 
States, rushed to arms. 

Book II of this volume gives reasons for the con- 
flict, its details and results. 

Prompted by patriotism, youthful impulse, and a 
slight ripple in true love's course, the writer, clothed 
in the national blue, and enrolled as a volunteer from 
Ohio, found himself in July, 1846, on the banks of the 
Rio Grande, "with rifle in his hand." 

The march along the line of operations up to Buena 
Vista and a year of campaigning in Mexico gave oppor- 
tunity to learn much as to the country and the people, 
their social, religious and political life. 

Nearly a half century of observation and inquiry as 
to the history of that land and of the people, supple- 
mented by a recent tour of the country and a visit to 
each of the historic battle-fields, where American sol- 
diers gained victory, fame, and finally, on settlement, 
some land — has greatly augmented that knowledge and 
revivified and intensified the memories and emotions 
incident to the military campaign. 

But intense and interesting as are those emotions, 
the recent knowledge acquired as to Mexican politics 
has claimed earliest attention. Hence this volume, 
wherein the author holds strictly to the powers, parties 



8 PREFACE. 

and politicians who have impressed themselves and 
their principles upon the very interesting history of 
Mexico by individual and combined efforts, and to a 
continuous chain of results which have followed. 

Much, very much of interesting truth about the 
land of "sunshine and flowers," and of the very peculiar 
people who inhabit the same is left out as not being 
embraced in the lines of this self-assumed task. What 
a world Mexico would have been under the control of 
Northern Europe. 

For data, the author has laid hands upon histories 
printed in both English and Spanish; the latter, obtained 
in Mexico, contain many facts which if ever presented 
in American books, has escaped his notice. 

These data with occasional quotations, grouped 
chronologically into as condensed form as possible, are 
now offered to the public with the hope that they are 
not entirely unworthy of perusal. 

This is more cheerfully done at this juncture in 
American politics, that facts in the history of Mexico 
may in some degree enlighten a deliberating people, to 
whom the matter of ecclesiastical meddling in national, 
state and municipal, political and educational affairs 
has become quite a vital one. 

In Mexico, Rome had her will as to such questions 
and matters for three centuries and a half, and this 
history shows, though in a faint degree, the results. If 
there is anything despicable therein, the author is not 
at fault, for he simply narrates facts and "tells the 
truth" as to what ecclesiasticism did for Mexico. Not 
only that, but he tells what Mexican statesmen and 
patriots have done to ecclesiasticism. % 

Organizations in the Union, whether secret or other- 



PREFACE. 9 

wise, whose aim is to check and limit Church control of 
State questions, including education, cannot claim 
originality: as, by the truths herein it will be seen that 
Mexicans did such work more than a quarter of a 
century ago, and did it well. 

Secret societies, as Jesuits (largely political) and 
of that ilk, though suppressed in Catholic Mexico, are 
not dead, neither yet sleeping in the United States; and 
therefore there may be great propriety in patriotic 
Americans "fighting the devil with fire." 

If secret political w^ork is to be condemned, let the 
rule apply to emissaries of the church of Rome who con- 
spire against American popular education and against 
the independence of the State of anj^ Church control. 

Forming an opinion of the Romish church entirely 
upon its history in Mexico, it would be declared to be a 
base, sanguinary, political organization; seeking and 
using power for gain and individual advantage; entirely 
destitute of spiritual knowledge or experience and rest- 
ing alone in form. In that light the author treats it. 

To Inventors of Written Language? To many who 
have written histories, and especially to the authors of 
Willson's American history and Bancroft's "Historia de 
Mexico" and "Porfirio Diaz su Biografia," gratitude is 
hereby expressed for writing, and writings; otherwise 
this book had not been open to your inspection, my 
kind reader, from whom I crave indulgence. 

W. F. CI.OUD. 
Kansas City, Mo., March 23, 1896. 



History of Mexican Politics. 



book: I. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 

IN THE beginning, when the solar system was con- 
ceived, the orbs constructed, and space in the great 

family of systems assigned, the button was pressed 
by Omnific power, and there was harmonious unjarring 
motion. 

Then our earth, fulfilling its part, took to revolving 
on its axis, having a surface velocity of a thousand 
miles an hour; and while thus revolving it took a speed 
of a thousand miles a minute in its course around the 
central sun. It rushes through cold, cold, dark, dark, 
limitless space, fortunately carrying a thin coating of air 
and a coat, or spots, of heat, variable in location and in- 
tensity, and a hemisphere of sunlight, also variable, 
whereby life upon its surface is possible. Thus it has 
continued from — when? 

The family of mankind, who have peopled the sur- 
face of the earth for an indefinite time, failed to note the 
wonderful facts of speed, and systems of surrounding 
worlds until a comparatively recent period. Inspired 
writers omitted to mention facts as to nature, science, 
mathematics, astronomy, geography. 

The Great Teacher Himself confined His statements 



12 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

of truth to a very limited line of thought and observa- 
tion. 

The concentrated wisdom of man developed written 
language about forty centuries ago. About, or a little 
more than, four centuries have passed since Copernicus 
suggested, or restated, the facts of the Solar Sj^stem. 

The bold, persevering, and alleged, heretical navi- 
gator Columbus, made his voyage of discovery; and to- 
gether the astronomer and the sailor presented facts 
which were to revolutionize not only natural history and 
science, but theology also. The doctrines of a flat, 
stationarj^ earth and of a stationary upward heaven were 
antagonized and disproved by the neweducatipn. 

Then was aroused to battle against popular educa- 
tion the best organized and most extensive s^'Stera of 
Church and State which the world contains' upon its 
surface, and that fight thus commenced b}^ the Roman 
Catholic church has continued to the present time, for 
there is an irreconcilable contention between popish 
priestcraft and free and full knowledge. 

The great reformer, IvUther, and the telescope-per- 
fecter, Galileo, by reason of the truths which they pre- 
sented and taught, as to spiritual and natural things, 
both encountered fierce and severe opposition and pun- 
ishment. But even though a tongue should have been 
stilled and a recantation secured at the command of the 
Church the world still moves, and truth is a winner. 

The fires and torments of the Inquisition, built and 
constructed with all the fiendish hate and inventive 
genius of Roman Catholics, failed to suppress truth and 
education. The printing press, coincidently started in the 
fifteenth century, has proved more than a match for the 
bone-crushing presses of the "Holy Office. ' ' The latter 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 13 

have been stopped, it is hoped forever, while the first, 
in more perfected form continues to shed light, benefi- 
cent and converting light, dissipating the errors and 
cruelties of Rome. A clear case of the survival of the 
fittest. 

Out from the midst of the contest, in the seventeenth 
centur}-, from one who held delegated regal power from 
Europe, over a province in America, came the following 
utterance: "I thank God there are no free schools nor 
printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred 
years. For learning has brought heresy and disobedi- 
ence and sects into the world, and printing divulges 
them and commits libels against the government. God 
keep us from both!" 

Thus the Church and the State in those days of the 
dominance of Rome detested and antagonized free 
schools and the printing press. 

The winds and the waves were propitious; and on 
the i2thof October, 1492, "old style," or the 24th of 
that month, "new style," Columbus realized to the most 
happy fruition the truth of the theory which he had 
matured, by long reflection and experimental inquiry; 
and the most important event recorded on history's 
pages, resulting from individual genius and enterprise, 
became an assured fact. A new world, or a new half of 
a very old world, was introduced to the astonished 
wiseacres and rulers of civilization, and the rotundity 
of the earth was demonstrated, to the disgust of the 
Church of Rome, in which was embodied the learning 
and the bigotry of the age. 

Yes, a new world was discovered and given over to 
that kind of civilization in which Rome presented and 
performed her will, as to dealing with the inhabitants 



14 HISTOR V OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

of the land and establishing her policies of civil, re- 
ligious, and educational governments; thereby showing 
just what are her aspirations, theories and intentions 
toward all peoples, in all ages, and furnishing object 
lessons to Americans in this nineteenth century of 
Christ. 

Rome never changes, is never reformed. Infalli- 
bility cannot submit to change of principle, plan, pur- 
pose nor process. 

When the compiler of this volume returned recently 
from a tour of inquiry in Mexico, May, 1894, he heard 
a distinguished Roman Catholic priest in Kansas City, 
Missouri, deliver an address before a Protestant assem- 
bly in the Congregational church in that city, upon the 
position which Satolli, the "American Pope," took on 
the question of the public school system of America. 

Having just returned from Mexico, a country which 
was, for three hundred and fifty years, subject exclu- 
sively to the educational system of Rome, and having 
seen the results in the ignorance, degradation and 
superstition of the people, and their poverty and lack 
of ambition, he was very much surprised to hear Father 
Dalton say: "The Roman Catholic church is not 
understood in the matter of education. Instead of 
being opposed to, it favors the public school S3^stem. 
The Roman Catholic church originated the public 
school system. If fault is found with the public 
schools, it is because they are not of a higher grade, 
and fail in the extent and scope of their instruc- 
tion. There should be education of the heart, the 
mind, the body. The Church does not wish religion 
to be taught in the public schools. Roman Catholics 
are proud of the existence and usefulness of the public 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 15 

schools, and gladly contribute to the maintainance of 
them, and pay tax for their support as cheerfully 
as they pay for their parochial schools. Priests of 
the Roman Catholic church who declaim against the 
public school system of this country speak only for 
themselves and do not represent the Church. Some 
Catholics have taught that each nationality, coming as 
immigrants to this country, should bring their Bishops 
with them, and thus maintain their forms of faith and 
systems of education; but recognizing as did the Pope 
of Rome the value of the public schools of America, he 
said 'No,' for the school system was first introduced by 
Rome. Rome has tried to follow the Pauline rule of 
being all things to all. The perpetuity of the Church 
is involved in this matter of education, and children to 
remain Catholics must have the two-fold education 
which is to be acquired in the ordinary school and in 
the parochial school." 

While delivering himself of these assertions, many 
of which are false to the knowledge of all, he failed in 
that ready and eloquent style which ordinarily character- 
izes his platform addresses, and struggled like a horse 
in quicksand; and one could hardly suppress the use of 
the old-time sajang: "Oh. w^hat a magnificent liar you 
would make, if you would only give 3^our attention to 
it." 

"This is my grievance; the State school is non-re- 
ligious * * I put the question: Ought we not to have 
in connection with the school religious instruction? I 
would permeate the regular State school with religion. " 
— Archbishop Ireland. 

"She (the Church) has the right of subjecting the 
study of philosophy, moral science, and civil law to 
ecclesiastical authority." — Cauou law of Pius IX, 1864. 



i6 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

"It'-S (the States) assumption of the right to tax a 
powerful minority to support a school system which it 
will not use must be resisted." — Roman Catholic Re- 
view. 

Rome, April i8, 1895. — The pope, through the 
congregation of the propaganda, has addressed a letter 
to the Canadian bishops, condemning the frequenting 
of Protestant or neutral schools by the Catholics of 
Manitoba." 

The assertion that "Rome becomes all things to 
all" and "that children to remain Catholics must be 
taught in the parochial schools," however, should not be 
disputed. 

In charity to Priest Dalton, it may be said he spoke 
for himself only, and does not represent the Church. 

What the parochial schools of Rome have done for 
a people where ecclesiasticism had undisputed control 
may be seen in what the historian has written of our 
neighbor on the south. Is the school system of the 
Church reformed? Rome yields to force of circum- 
stances, at times, "becomes all things to all" for policy's 
sake. But does she ever experience a change of heart? 
History answers, "Never!" 

"Of the state of learning and education among the 
Mexican people," (and the desire on the part of the 
clergy to keep them in ignorance,) "some idea may be 
formed when it is considered that as late as 1840 among 
the entire white population of the country, not more 
than one in five could read and write; and among the 
Indians and mixed classes, not one in fifty; a startling 
fact for a republic, and one of the prominent causes for 
that incapacity for self-government which the people 
exhibited up to that time." — Willson's American His- 
tory. 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 17 

This ignorance was the result of a studied and sys- 
tematic effort to limit the degree of instruction accorded 
to the people. Whenever any proposition was made, in 
the early days, to favor the education of the people as a 
means to secure their elevation and advancement the 
cry was made by the clergy, "that the elevation of ser- 
vants and Indians was to imperil their future and eternal 
interests." The restriction of their education was with 
the full assent of the friars and the clergy, and they pre- 
dicted that instruction was useless, and would result in 
evil. 

The Viceroy Brancifort declared in 1795 "that a 
knowledge of the catechism was sufficient, and thus he 
proposed to deprix'e of education eighty or ninety per 
cent of the population." 

It was not until the reforms in the politics and con- 
stitution of Mexico in 1858-73, when liberty of teach- 
ing, of the press, of the forum and of speech was 
secured, that education was possible to the common 
people of that country, and the results are surprising 
and gratifying. 

May 15, 1894, at the opening of the Catholic Edu- 
cational Exhibit at the Grand Central Palace in New 
York, after Archbishop Corrigan had delivered an ad- 
dress. Congressman Bourke Cochran spoke as follows: 
"To declare," said he, "that the Catholic church is 
hostile to the republic is to declare that the mother is 
hostile to her offspring. Those who tell us that the 
Catholic church or its educational system is hostile to 
the government must speak a falsehood. We cannot 
have it otherwise. .What the church is doing to-day in 
the parochial schools is just the same that she did in 
ages gone by. I believe that the time has come when 



r8 HIST OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

Catholics should assert themselves, and say that they 
are the men above all others whose training and faith 
compel them to be live citizens of this republic." 

Roman Catholics, unfortunately, have asserted 
themselves as "live citizens of this republic," and their 
"training and faith," applied to American politics has 
developed Tammany Hall. That organization is Catho- 
lic if anything, as to the personnel of officers and mem- 
bership. 

Developments of recent date tend to confirm the 
popular estimate of it, which has rested upon and in the 
minds of the people for many years, as the very personi- 
fication of dishonesty and corruption, debased, and 
debasing all departments of business over which that 
live, active element — the police — Catholics as a body, 
can by any means have control, whether legitimate or 
otherwise. 

The "training and faith" of its constituents, their 
numbers, character and policies, assure the people of 
this republic of continued evil results upon municipality, 
state and nation. What moral, political or healthful 
religious interest, would suffer if it were to be annihi- 
lated or — reformed? And for that matter, what if a like 
fate should fall upon Rome in America? 

It had been hoped by friends of truth, morality and 
religion, that the Roman Catholic church had heeded 
some of the lessons taught and illustrated in Protestant 
America; but look at the latest exhibition of ecclesi- 
astical power and discipline. 

Father Ducey sympathized with municipal and 
moral reform, and lent his aid to the movements to in- 
vestigate, punish and annihilate Tammany. Archbishop 
Corrigan, in his holy office representing Rome in 



~ FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 19 

America in the evening of the nineteenth century of 
Christ, administered "canonical reproof" to Father 
Ducey for so doing, and "there you are." Those who 
swallow Rome must take her without expecting reform 
condiments. 

The crime of Tammany in politics is the crime of 
the century, that of polluting the American ballot. 
What political crime compares with it? Ask yourself! 
Inquire! To combat this crime, what is the state of 
public morals? In what condition is the public con- 
science to grapple with the great problems that are 
facing the country and demanding adjustment? 

The American people are the victims of a bad habit, 
the habit of tippling with corruption in politics. Whence 
came this gigantic evil and corruption so prevalent? 
From Tammany. From the "training and faith" of its 
members. Whence came a perverted public conscience? 
From the "live citizens of this republic," w^iose "train- 
ing and faith" have been acquired at the hands of 
Catholic teachers, lay as well as clerical. From a con- 
science acquired by Catholic training comes willing- 
ness to commit crimes against the ballot box, and the 
law, especially municipal law. The exemption of 
Tammany offenders from punishment has emboldened 
like crime throughout the country. 

A Tammany boss or a ballot machine boss has come 
to be considered a "smooth one," and as having perpe- 
trated a good joke when he gets the best of the people 
by avoiding punishment for well known crimes against 
election laws. * 

Every Catholic policeman who emerges from a 
saloon, kept by a Catholic, in all probability, on a Sun- 
day morning, wiping off his chin, feels that he has the 



20 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

people by the heels when he thus tolerates a violation 
of the municipal law, closing saloons on Sundays, when 
he thus commits moral perjurj-. 

Take the blue coat and the silver star off the Roman 
Catholic church communicant and place them upon 
Protestants who are in good standing in their churches. 
Who would then expect open saloons and the imbibing 
of beer by the custodians of the public peace and the 
sworn enforcers of the law on Sunday mornings, or 
conniving at or committing crime under ofl&cial 
authority? One class would have a Roman Catholic 
conscience inside the blue coat and the other a Protest- 
ant "inward mentor." 

The ease with which indulgence may be obtained 
and the facility with which absolution can be secured, 
from Roman Catholic priests, gives a tendency to crime 
and to the exercise of moral depravity the world over; 
and this fact should ostracize all professedly sacred, 
consecrated people who deal in indulgences and absolu- 
tions at so much per dozen, or singly, thus giving out 
falsely that God's permission for and condonement of 
crime and sin can be secured for a money consideration. 
Out upon such blasphemy! 

The Roman Catholic church has made a record 
showing its position as to republics, and just what that 
record is will be seen in the pages of this book. It will 
herein be shown that all ecclesiastics in good standing, 
from the pope to the lowest of the clergy in Mexico con- 
centrated their powers, spiritual, military and financial, 
to maintain monarchy, centralism and imperialism, and 
to defeat republicanism in that country, and that if any 
of their number favored a true republic they were de- 
nounced, excommunicated and executed. 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. ' 21 

In the pages which treat of the Monroe Doctrine 
and its disregard by all the Catholic powers of Europe, 
will be seen how false is the assumption of Bourke 
Cochran that the Catholic church has ever been a foster- 
ing mother to this republic, or that the Union is in any 
sense the offspring of Rome, or that Rome had desire 
for its perpetuation; but otherwise that the pope ofl&cially 
and joyfully recognized the confederate states of America 
in 1863. 

While the battle to limit the power of ecclesiasti- 
cism in America is On, Pope L,eo XIII. enters the field 
in the form of an "encyclical," received at arch-episcopal 
headquarters. New York, in July, 1894, from which the 
following: 

"The liberty of the state, however, need not arouse 
rivalries and antagonisms, for the Church aspires to no 
power and obeys no ambition. What it desires solely is 
to preserve among men the exercise of virtue, and by 
this means assure their eternal salvation. And so it 
uses condescension and maternal processes. More than 
this, having regard to the requirements of all societies, 
it sometimes waives the exercise of its ozvn rights, as has 
been shown abundantly in its conventions ivith different 
states. Nothing is further from its thoughts than to 
trespass upon the rights of civil authority, which in re- 
turn should respect the rights of the Church, and beware 
of usurpiyig any part of thevi. And now we can con- 
sider what is happening in our time. What tendency 
do we see by many of the churches? Suspected, dis- 
dained, hated, accused, and what is worse, no efforts 
are spared to bring it under the yoke of the civil authority . 
Its properties are confiscated and its liberties narrowed; 
its education of the aspirants to the priesthood is ham- 



22 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

pered; religious societies are dissolved or forbidden. 
In short, we realize a revival of all the regalist methods. 
This is a violation of the rights of the Church. It is pre- 
paring lamentable catastrophes for society, for it is the 
open contradiction of the plans of God. The State has 
its own rights and duties. The Church has hers. Be- 
tween them should be bonds of strictest concord. So 
would surely be suppressed the unrest visible in the re- 
lations of Church and State. Another grave peril to 
unity is the Masonic sect, a formidable power which has 
long oppressed all nations, especially Catholic nations." 

By this manifest, Americans will see that the pope 
still urges the rights of the Church to be superior to 
those of the State, and that all attempts to bring the 
Church ^^ under the yoke of the civil authority'''' prepares 
society for "lamentable catastrophes," and moreover 
that "it is an open contradiction of the plans of God. " 

Fortunatel}^ any lamentable catastrophes which 
may befall American society for thus violating the plans 
of God will not be attended with the pains of the in- 
quisition. No thanks, however, to Rome. And any- 
thing of the lamentable nature which may threaten in 
the form of secret military Catholic societies can well be 
contemplated with complacence when it is recollected 
that in each and every case where Rome has taken up 
the sword to maintain ecclesiasticisms, she has lost 
irretrievably — from England centuries ago, to Mexico 
a quarter of a century since. 

Americans who fear because Rome is securing 
power in our army and in civil offices and is almost 
monopolizing the police departments of our cities, may 
know that to Rome there is a limit; that the reaction 
has set in, that the lines are being drawn, and that the 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 23 

issues now on-coming will remain in active contest until 
Americanism alone will rule in America. 

Rome never won a battle, except with such people 
as the Mexican Indians, and then it was o\\\y a tempo- 
rary victory; for in that nation there was providentially 
raised up one of the full-blood natives, Juarez, who 
"downed" the ecclesiastics for all time. 

And the complaint which the misinformed pope 
makes as to confiscations, forbidding and dissolving the 
societies of Jesuits, Nuns and Sisters of Charity, and 
suppressing priest-making schools should not be made 
against Protestant America, but against Catholic 
Mexico, where such things are true. 

The pope should study the map or have instruction 
given him, else people will refuse to believe him "in- 
fallible." 

The profusion of the words, "rights of the Church," 
"its own right," "to bring it under the yoke of the 
civil authority," show clearly that Leo XIII. still holds 
to the dictum of Pius IX. , announced when he was out- 
fitting Maximillian for his usurpation of authority as 
emperor over the republic of Mexico. "Great are the 
rights of nations, and they must be heeded; but greater 
and more sacred are the rights of the Church." 

As to any "unrest" which may exist "in the rela- 
tions of church and state," it "would surely be sup- 
pressed" if the "old man on the Tyber" and his satel- 
lites and superstitious dupes would be content with 
American institutions. All other churches and the state 
sustain very happy and restful amenities. Romanists 
monopolize the disquiet. 

If his holiness were to abandon his prejudices, 
ptove himself to be "worthy and well qualified," and 



24 



HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS' 



seek "liglit," he might find that the detested sect of 
Free Masons are not such oppressors of nations as he 
f alsly charges them, to be. 




CHAPTER II. 



1492 TO 1521. 

West India Islands Occupied — Greed oe Adven- 
turers — Natives Enslaved — Main Land Dis- 
covered — Civilization — Battles — Cortez — 
Pious Instructions — Impious Expectations — ■ 
Lands — Burns Ships — Marches on Mexico — ■ 
Hospitality of Montezuma — Traitorous Re- 
turn — Battles — Final Conquest — Facts as to 
THE Country. 

THE West Indian Islands, first discovered by Colum- 
bus, were quickly taken possession of by greedy 
and conscienceless Roman Catholic discoverers and 
adventurers. They not only took the lands, but to 
satisfy still further the greed which was their ruling 
passion, those false representatives of the meek, lowly, 
and inoffensive Christ, made slaves of the natives, and 
compelled them to work and labor for them upon their 
own former homesteads, without any compensation. 

The subjugation of the natives was accomplished 
only by the most cruel and barbarous processes. Wliilei 
making the conquest of Cuba one Panfilo de Narvaez,! 
who commanded a force which was scouring the island, 
encountered a chief named Hatuey. This chief had fled 
from St. Domingo to escape the oppression of the Span- 
iards, and he now made a desperate resistance. For so 
doing he was condemned to be burned alive. Then it 



26 HIS7CR } ' OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

was that lie made a wonderful reply more eloquent than 
volumes of invective. Being bound to the stake, with 
combustibles around him, and with the flaming torch 
in the hand of the willing executioner, a Roman Catho- 
lic priest — cross in hand — with oily words urged him to 
embrace Christianity that his soul might secure admis- 
sion to heaven. He inquired whether the white men 
would be found there? On being answered in the 
affirmative, he exclaimed, "then I will not become a 
Christian, for I would not go again to a place where I 
must find men so cruel." 

The fertility of the soil and the inexpensiveness of 
labor insured wealth, and multitudes of adventurers 
flocked to the. New World. Soon the lands were occu- 
pied to their utmost limits and capacity. Then the 
spirit of adventure, discovery and greed prompted to 
new voyages and new conquests; and fourteen years after 
the first landing was made upon the islands, the main 
land of the continent was discovered: and in 1506, the 
eastern coast of Yucatan first felt the accursed footsteps 
of the Roman Catholic slave-maker and despoiler. 

The month of March, 15 17, saw Francisco Fernan- 
dez de Cordova leave Cuba with a fleet of three small 
vessels, bound on an exploring expedition along the coast 
of Yucatan. On approaching the shore, the Spaniards 
were surprised to find, instead of naked savages as they 
had expected, a people decently clad in cotton garments. 
On landing, their wonder was increased at beholding 
several large edifices built of stone. The natives were 
much more bold and warlike than those of the islands, 
and the Spaniards were everywhere received with the 
most determined opposition. At one place fifty-seven of 
the Spaniards were killed, and Cordova himself received 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 27 

a wound of which he died soon after his return to Cuba. 

Notwithstanding the disastrous result of that expe- 
dition, another was planned the following year; and 
under the direction of Juan de Grijalva a portion of the 
southern coast of Mexico was explored, and a large 
amount of treasure obtained by trafficing with the 
natives. Velasquez, Governor of Cuba, under whose 
auspices the voyage of Grijalva had been made, enriched 
by the result and elated with success far be3-ond his ex- 
pectations, now determined to undertake the conquest 
of the wealthy countries that had been discovered, and 
hastily fitted out an armament for the purpose. Not be- 
ing able to lead the expedition in person, he gave the 
command to Fernando Cortez, who sailed with eleven 
vessels, having on board a force of 508 infantry, 16 
cavalry and their horses, 109 sailors, and 200 native 
Cubans; they had also ten cannons and four falconettes. 

The command of this expedition was not given to 
Cortez without considerable hesitation , for want of con- 
fidence, as he had not the best moral or financial repu- 
tation. Velasquez and the clergy who had directed the 
policies of the expeditions gave the commander instruc- 
tions which contrasted notably with the conduct which 
he obser\^ed. The orders were, that ha should comport 
himself as a Christian warrior, that he should prohibit 
heresy among his followers, and that in no case should 
he commit any hostile act against the natives of the 
countrj'; and that wherever he directed his movements, 
it was his only duty to make known the infinite good- 
ness and glory of God and of his Catholic majesty, the 
the king. 

In spite of the apparent manifestation of pity and 
piety, neither the governor, Velasquez, nor the ecclesi- 



28 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

astics were persuaded that such instructions would be 
very punctually obeyed, and they expected that they 
would be so interpreted that a good financial end would 
result from the expedition. They were given merely 
for their effect upon the outside world, and with a hope 
to cover Velasquez from any possible censure from his 
sovereign, having a constant hope that they would re- 
ceive their share of the booty. 

In March, 15 19, Cortez landed in Tabasco, a south- 
ern province of Mexico, where he had several encount- 
ers with the natives, whom he routed with great 
slaughter. Proceeding thence westward and along the 
coast, he landed at the place where Vera Cruz is now 
situated. Here he was hospitably received by the 
natives, and two officers of a monarch, who was called 
Montezuma, came to inquire what his intentions were 
in his visit, and to offer him assistance to enable him to 
continue his journey.^ Cortez respectfully assured them, 
that he came with the most friendly sentiments, but that 
he was intrusted with affairs of such moment by the 
king, his soverign, that he could impart them to no 
one but to the Emperor Montezuma himself, and there- 
fore requested them to conduct him into the presence of 
their master. 

The officers, knowing that the request would be dis- 
agreeable to Montezuma, endeavored to dissaude Cortez 
from his intentions, at the same time making him valu- 
able presents, which only increased his avidity. Mes- 
sengers were dispatched to the monarch, giving him an 
account of everything that had occurred since the arrival 
of the Spaniards. Presents of great value, consisting of 
golden ornaments, finely woven cotton garments, and 
beautifully wrought feather robes, were returned by 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 29 

him; and requests were made, and finally commands 
given, that the Spaniards should leave the country — but 
all to no purpose. 

Cortez, after destroying his vessels, that his soldiers 
should be left without any resources but their valor, 
commenced to march towards the Mexican capital. On 
his way thither, several nations, tributary to Monte- 
zuma, but who were at the point of revolt, threw off 
their allegiance and joined the Spaniards. Montezuma 
himself, alarmed and irresolute, continued to send mes- 
sengers to Cortez; and as his hopes or his fears alter- 
nately prevailed, on one day gave him permission to ad- 
vance; and on the next command him to depart. 

As the vast valley of Mexico opened to the view of 
the Spaniards, they beheld numerous villages and culti- 
vated fields extending to the limit of their vision; and 
in the middle of the plain, partly encompassing a large 
lake and partly built on islands within it, stood the City 
af Mexico, adorned with its numerous temples and tur- 
rets; the whole presenting to the eyes of the Spaniards 
a view so novel and wonderful that they could hardly 
convince themselves that it was real, and not a mirage 
or a dream. 

Montezuma received the Spaniards with great pomp 
and display, admitted them within the city, assigned 
them a spacious and elegant edifice for their accommo- 
dation, supplied all their wants, and bestowed valuable 
presents among them indiscriminately. Cortez, never- 
theless, soon began to feel solicitude for his situation 
and safety. He was in the middle of a vast empire, 
shut up in the center of a large city, and surrounded 
by multitudes sufiicient to overwhelm him on the least 
intimation of the will of their sovereign. 



30 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

In this emergency, the wily Cortez with extraordi- 
nary daring and depravity formed and executed the 
plan of seizing the person of the Mexican monarch, and 
detained him as a hostage for the good conduct of the 
people. He next induced him, overawed and broken in 
spirit, to acknowledge himself a vassal of the Spanish 
crown, and to subject his dominions to the payment of 
tribute. 

Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, became jealous 
of Cortez and sent a hostile force to capture the adven- 
turer. This caused Cortez to absent himself from the 
city to meet the new danger which threatened him. 

In his absence the Mexicans, incited by the cruel- 
ties of the Spaniards who had been left to guard the 
capital and the Mexican king, flew to arms. Cortez, 
with rare good fortune having subdued his enemies and 
incorporated most of them with his own forces, return- 
ing, entered the capital without molestation. 

Relying too much on his increased strength, he 
soon laid aside the mask of moderation which had 
hitherto concealed his designs, and treated the Mexicans 
like conquered subjects. They, finally convinced that 
they had nothing to hope except in the utter extermina- 
tion of the invaders, resumed their attacks upon the 
Spaniards with renewed fury. 

In a sally which Cortez made, twelve of his soldiers 
were killed, which showed the Mexicans that their ene- 
mies were not invincible. Cortez, now fully sensible 
of his danger, tried what effect the interposition of 
Montezuma would have upon his irritated subjects. At 
sight of their king, whom they almost worshiped as a 
god, the weapons of the Mexicans dropped from their 
hands, and every head was bowed with reverence. But 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 31 

when, in obedience to Cortez, the unhappy monarch 
attempted to mitigate their rage and to persuade them 
to lay down their arms, murmurs, threats and reproaches 
ran through their ranks. Their rage broke forth with 
uncontrollable fury, and, regardless of their monarch, 
they again poured in upon the Spaniard's flights of 
arrows and volleys of stones. Two arrows wounded 
Montezuma before he could be removed, and a blow 
from a stone brought him down. 

The Mexicans, on seeing their king fall by their 
own hands, were struck with remorse and fled in horror. 
Montezuma himself, scorning to survive this last 
humiliation, rejected with disdain all attentions of the 
Spaniards, refused to take nourishment, and soon termi- 
nated his unhappy life. 

Cortez, now despairing of terms with the Mexicans, 
after several desperate encounters with them, began a 
retreat from the capital; but innumerable hosts hemmed 
him in on every side, and his march was almost a con- 
tinual battle. 

On the sixth day of the retreat, the almost ex- 
hausted Spaniards, now reduced in numbers, encount- 
ered at Otumba on an extended plain, the whole Mexican 
force, which extended as far as the eye could reach. 
There was no hope of succor or escape, and it was left 
for them to conquer or die. Cortez immediately led his 
men to the charge. The Mexicans received them with 
fortitude, 5'et their best battalions gave way before 
Spanish discipline and arms. The very multitude of their 
enemies, however, pressing upon them from every side, 
seemed sufficient to overwhelm the Spaniards. 

They, seeing no end of their toil nor any hope of 
victory, were on the point of yielding to despair. 



32 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

At this moment Cortez, seeing the great Mexican 
standard advancing and recollecting that on its fate 
depended the event of every battle, assembled a few of 
his bravest officers, and at their head cut his way 
through the opposing ranks, struck down the Mexican 
general, and secured the standard. The moment their 
general fell and the standard disappeared, the panic- 
struck Mexicans threw away their arms and fled to the 
mountains, making no further opposition to the retreat 
of the Spaniards. 

Notwithstanding the reverses which he had ex- 
perienced, Cortez still looked forward with confidence 
to the conquest of the whole Mexican empire. After 
receiving supplies and reinforcements, he,, in the month 
of December, 1520, again departed for the interior with 
a force of five hundred Spaniards and many thousands 
of friendly Indians. 

After various successes and reverses and a siege of 
the capital which lasted seventy-five days — the new 
sovereign, Guatemozin, having been captured — in 
August, 152 1, the city yielded; the fate of the Aztec 
empire was decided and Mexico became a possession of 
Spain. 

One can but regret that the Aztecs had not annihi- 
lated the Roman Catholic invaders; had forbidden their 
three centuries of crime and outrage: had maintained 
their civilization, a civilization which was superior to 
that of Spain, and by which Europe might have been 
instructed; and thus been left to work out their destiny 
parallel with the histories and destinies of aboriginal 
peoples, until the pure light of inspiration and Christi- 
anity, shining forth from Protestant evangelization, 
could have shown them the way to better things of a 



FROM C0R7EZ TO DIAZ. 



33 



religious order, and could have blended their native art 
and science — lost through Catholic superstition and 
greed — with that of Europe, to the betterment of both 
civilizations. 

They were entitled to continue as a power, a nation, 
a people, among nations, powers and peoples; and their 
criminal overthrow and debasement is one of the greatest 
outrages written in the world's history, and remains 
unjustified and unjustifiable. 

The original Aztec empire comprised but a small 
part of the territory embraced in modern Mexico. But 
the conquest of the chief military nation of the country 
gave the Spaniards possession from the gulf of Mexico 
to the Pacific ocean, and as far to the north and south 
of the valley as their explorers and colonists wished to 
penetrate and occupy. 

One of the most interesting facts relating to the 
new possessions of the conquering Spaniards was the 
climate. Although the difference of latitude alone 
would naturally have the effect of producing consider- 
able changes in the temperature of the more distant 
parts, yet it is not to this circumstance so much as the 
peculiarity of its geological structure that Mexico owes 
that singular variety of climate by which it is dis- 
tinguished from every other country in the world. 

The Andes mountains, which are a single chain in 
South America and the isthmus of Panama, divide into 
two chains on entering the northern continent which 
diverge to the east and west; but, still preserving their 
direction to the north, leave in the center an immense 
platform or table-land, intersected by the higher points 
or ridges of the great mountain chain by which it is 
supported, but raised in the more central parts to the 



34 HIST OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

heighth of 7,000 to 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. 

In a valley of this table-land, at an elevation of 
7,600 feet, is situated the City of Mexico. Upon the 
whole of this table-land the effect of geographical posi- 
tion is neutralized by the extreme rarefaction of the air, 
while upon the eastern and western declivities it re- 
sumes its natural influences as it approaches the level 
of the sea. 

On the ascent from Vera Cruz, the changing cli- 
mates rapidly succeed each other, and the traveler in a 
few hours passes in review the whole scale of vegeta- 
tion. The plants of the tropics are exchanged for the 
evergreen oak, and the deadly atmosphere of Vera Cruz 
for the sweet, mild air of Jalapa. A little further the 
oak gives place to the fir, the air becomes more pierc- 
ing, the sun, though it scorches, has no longer the 
deleterious effect upon the human frame, and nature 
assumes a new and peculiar aspect. 

With a cloudless sky and a brilliantly pure atmos- 
phere, there is a great want of moisture and little luxuri- 
ance of vegetation. Vast plains follow each other in 
apparently endless succession, each separated from the 
rest by a little ridge of hills which appear to have 
formed at some previous period the basin of an extended 
chain of lakes. Such, with some slight variations, is 
the general character of the table-lands of the interior. 

Wherever there is water there is fertility, but the 
rivers are few and insignificant in comparison with the 
rivers of the United States, and in the interval the sun 
parches, instead of enriching the soil. High and barren 
plains of sand, from which isolated mountains rise to 
the regions of perpetual snow, occupy a large part of the 
interior of Northern Mexico. Nor does nature recover 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 35 

her wonted vigor until the streams which filter from the 
mountains are sufficiently formed to dispense moisture 
on their passage to the ocean. 

Almost all the fruits and grains of Europe succeed 
well on the table-lands, while bordering on the Pacific 
ocean and the gulf of Mexico tropical fruits are found 
in abundance. The whole eastern coast, extending 
back to that point in the slope of the mountains at which 
tropical fruits cease to thrive, is susceptible of the 
highest cultivation. 




CHAPTER III. 



1521 TO 1808. 

Mexico Ruled by Viceroys — Polices — Laws — 
Troops — Catholic Religion Imposed — In- 
humanity — lyAS Cases Interferes — Official 
Corruption — Castes ^Poverty — Laws op the 
Indies — Inquisition. . ~ . 

THE conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards vested the 
ownership and sovereignty of the country in the 
crown of Spain. The government of Spain at 
the time was an absolute monarchy, and the monarchs 
of the mother country ruled their American possessions 
by Viceroys, the policies and laws of whose administra- 
tions were dictated from Spain and enforced by Spanish 
soldiers. This character of government was maintained 
until Mexico became independent in 182 1. 

The Catholic religion, introduced into the country 
by the Spaniards, was the only religion that was toler- 
ated in Mexico during the whole period of its colonial 
existence, and up to 1873, when the wise and benefi- 
cient reforms inaugurated by Benito Juarez, — the only 
full-blood Indian who ever occupied the chair of state 
in Mexico, — culminated in an amendment to the federal 
constitution, since which all religions are tolerated and 
protected. 

A few years after the conquest, six millions of the 
natives were induced by fraud and force to embrace the 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ, 37 

Roman Catholic religion. But, although they changed 
their profession, their faith remained essentially the 
same, inasmuch as they were not educated, and per- 
formed their religious ceremonies by rote and with the 
use of an unintelligible foreign tongue. Therefore they 
knew ver}^ little of religion but its external forms; audit 
was more than suspected that multitudes of the pro- 
fessed converts retained faith in their ancient idols. 

Many of the more intelligent contrasted, with a 
favorable verdict to their system, the cruelties inflicted 
in the "halls of torment" of the inquisition upon the 
victims therein disciplined, with the sacrifice of victims 
of war, offered in their own religious rites, wherein the 
most distinguished priests of their respective creeds per- 
formed the rites and inflicted the cruelties. They also 
held that the consuming of the bodies of their victims, 
which was part of their religion, was much more con- 
sistent than was the eating of the body of the Christians' 
God, as performed in the Holy Eucharist. 

The establishment of a colonial government was 
followed by the bondage of the natives, who were re- 
duced to the most cruel and humiliating form of slavery. 

The tyranny, inhumanity and greed of the con- 
qerers and adventuerers who occupied the agricultural 
lands and operated the mines, led to the perpetration of 
such excesses, and outrages upon the Indians that it 
became a well known fact, and was publicly charged, 
that fifteen million of them were destroyed in the first 
third of the century of the occupation of the country. 

Columbus having discovered the New World, and 
brought the Indians under the dominion of the Monarch 
of Spain, laid a tax upon the natives on his second voj-age 
to the new land. This tax was to be paid quarterly and was 



38 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

excessively exorbitant. Many were unable to pay and 
therefore they offered time service, or labor, as a substi- 
tute for gold and other products of the country. This 
was accepted and thus a beginning was made of the 
system of ''''repai'timientos^''' under which the natives 
finally were made the servants and slaves of the Span- 
iards. 

In 1528 a species of government, or court, called 
the audiencia, with Nuno de Guzman as president, was 
established in Mexico, and under his reign great cruel- 
ties were perpetrated. As usual, greed for gold was his 
ruling passion; so the chief inhabitants were invited to 
the City of Mexico with assurances of peace and protec- 
tion, but when within the power of the president the 
mask of kindness was thrown off and they were sub- 
jected to the most cruel treatment to compel them to 
produce and surrender the coveted gold. The king of 
one of the provinces was taken to the house of the 
president and then his. feet were placed in the fire to 
compel him to give up his treasures. 

All of the natives were enslaved and obliged to 
peform excessively laborious tasks. At times they be- 
came insubordinate when they were cruelly whipped 
with the lash. When their discontent appeared to be 
general they were declared to be in a state of insubordi- 
nation, and were subjugated with arms. Entire popu- 
lations were sold as slaves to countries distant from 
their places of nativity. 

In 1 54 1 while an exploring party of Spaniards were 
traveling through Panama they were surprised to find 
the entire abandonment of a country where there was 
evidence of previous occupation; and were informed, on 
inquiry, that other invaders had- murdered or sold into 



FROM C0R7EZ TO DTAZ. 



39 



slavery the entire population which once had happy- 
homes therein. 

In Honduras the inhabitants had been robbed of 
their properties, and then sold as slaves to other parts 
of the country; and in another province where there 
had been cities with from three thousand to fifteen 
thousand people, there remained in 1547 not more than 
two hundred persons. In a city that at one time had 
nine hundred houses, there was found only one single 
inhabitant, all the rest having been murdered or sold as 
slaves, and his soliloquy might well have been "thus 
do Roman Catholics teach Christ and evangelize In- 
dians. ' ' 

Cruel was the treatment of the natives in all the 
provinces dominated by the Spaniards, but in no part 
was the oppression so extreme as in Guatemala, where, 
under the dominion of Pedro Alvarado, there was re- 
pugnant licentiousness utterly indescribable. In their 
campaigns, against outlying tribes, when their allies 
needed rations, they were fed upon human bodies as 
a meat food, their captives being slaughtered for that 
use as so many cattle. When by reason of a super- 
abundant supply they could select, then the hands and 
feet of slaughtered children formed an appetizing dish. 

No respect was shown to family relations, and the 
natives were treated as brutes. Houses were entered 
and desolated; wives were separated from their hus- 
bands, and children from their parents; and all were 
distributed among the soldiers and mariners, as slaves, 
and compelled to work in the mines of gold and silver, 
where they perished by thousands. 

Very little distinction was made between the allies 
who assisted the Spaniards, and the other natives who 



40 HIS'IORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

were conquered by them. The children of their Tlas- 
calan allies were also made slaves until, in 1547, there 
remained scarcely one hundred living representatives of 
that brave and warlike nation, which sent its hundred 
thousand men along with Cortez to conquer the Aztecs. 

This terrible treatment caused attempts at resist- 
ance, when they were reduced to greater degradation. 
No one has language with which to describe the horrors 
that fell upon these unfortunate creatures. The murders 
on a grand scale, the gallows, the fire, the torments, the 
mutilations and branding with red-hot irons which fol- 
lowed the suppression of any attempt to revolt; and in 
the meantime the hunger, the fatigue, the blows, the 
prostrations and faintings under oppressively burden- 
some loads which marked their condition while in a 
state of submission; all this destroyed the people with 
terrible rapidity. 

The knowledge of these cruelties prompted Bartho- 
lemew de Las Cases, bishop of Chiapas, in Mexico, to 
resign his office and to make common cause against the 
perpetrators; and he accused them before the whole 
world. 

The cfert of Madrid, "his most Catholic majesty," 
awakened by the representations of I^as Cases and by 
the indignation of the civilized world — then being 
brought under the benign influence of Protestantism — 
became sensible at last that the tyranny and cruelties 
which he had so far permitted were repugnant to true 
religion, to humanity, and also to policy; and he took 
Steps to break the chains of the Mexicans. 

Certain laws were enacted by which their condition 
was to be ameliorated; but the enforcement of them was 
left to officers whose financial interests led them to give 



rnOM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 41 

the edicts only partial effect. The tenor of those laws 
was, that the natives should have their liberty upon the 
condition that they should not leave the territory where 
they were settled; thus, their lands being retained by 
the Spaniards, they were still obliged to labor for their 
oppressors, under local laws and regulations. 
I This system was gradually abolished about the be- 

ginning of the eighteenth century, owing to the in- 
creased abundance of negro slave labor, introduced on 
recommendation of Las Cases, yet the Indians were still 
deprived by the Spanish laws of all the valuable privil- 
eges of citizenship, were treated as minors under the 
tutelage of their superiors, could make no contracts be- 
yond the value of ten pounds, were forbidden to marry 
with the whites, were prohibited the use of firearms, 
and were ruled by petty magistrates appointed by the 
government, which seemed to aim at keeping the 
natives in a state of poverty and barbarism. 

Degenerated from the rank which they held in the 
days of Montezuma, banished into the most barren dis- 
tricts, where their indolence gained for them only a pre- 
carious subsistance; or, as beggars, swarming the streets 
of the cities, basking in the sun during the day and pass- 
ing the night in the open air, they afforded, during the 
long period of the Spanish rule, a sad and striking ex- 
ample of that general degradation which the govern- 
ment of Spain brought upon the natives in all the 
Spanish-American colonies. 

Nor was the colonial government established over 
the country at all calculated to promote the interests of 
the native Spanish population. For nearly three centu- 
ries, down to the year 1821, Mexico was governed by 
viceroys appointed by the court of Spain, all of whom, 



42 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

with one exception, were European Spaniards. Every 
situation in the gift of the crown was bestowed upon an 
European, nor is there an instance for many years before 
the revolution, either in the Church, the army, or the 
law, in which the door of preferment was opened to a 
Spaniard, Mexican born. 

Through this policy a privileged caste arose, dis- 
tinct from the Mexican Spaniards in feelings, habits 
and interests, the paid agents of a government whose 
only aim was to enrich itself without any regard to the 
abuses perpetrated under its authority. Before the 
revolution the population of Mexico was divided into 
seven distinct castes: i. The old Spaniards born in 
Spain and called Gachupines; 2. The Creoles or 
whites of pure European parentage, born in America 
and regarded by the Spaniards as natives; 3. The 
Indians or indigenous copper-colored race; 4. The 
Mestizos or mixed breeds of whites and Indians; 5. The 
mulattoes or descendants of whites and negroes; 6. The 
Zambos or Chino§, the descendants of negroes and In- 
dians; and 7. The African negroes, either free or 
slave. The Indians, comprising about two-fifths of the 
whole population, consisted of various tribes resembling 
each other in color, but differing greatly in language, 
customs and dress. Over twenty different Indian lan- 
guages are known to be spoken in the Mexican terri- 
tory. Next to the pure Indians, the Mestizos are the 
most numerous caste, and indeed few of the middling 
class are free from a taint of Indian blood. 

From the first breaking out of the Mexican revolu- 
tion, the distinctions of caste were all swallowed up in 
the great vital distinctions of Americans and Europeans. 
Many of the most distinguished characters of the revolu- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 43 

tion belonged to the mixed races; and under the system 
of government first established at the close of the war, 
all permanent residents, without distinction of color, 
were entitled to the rights of citizenship. General 
Guerrero, who in 1824 was a member of the executive 
board and in 1829 became president, had African blood 
in his veins. 

With a nominal salary of about sixty thousand dol- 
lars, the viceroy of Mexico kept up all the pageantry of 
a court during several years, and then returned to his 
native country with a fortune of one or two millions of 
dollars, which it was notorious he had derived from a 
system of legalized plunder. 

The sale of titles and distinctions usually obtained 
from the king at the recommendation of the viceroy, was 
a source of great profit to both. But one still greater 
was that of granting licenses for the introduction of any 
article of foreign produce, for which immense sums were 
paid by the great commercial houses of Mexico and 
Vera Cruz. So lucrative wer<e the profits accruing from 
the various species of plundering carried on under the 
forms of law, that government situations, even without 
a salary, were in great request, and were found to be a 
sure road to affluence. 

The complaints of the Creoles and their attempts to 
bring notorious offenders to justice were equally fruit- 
less. The various changes also which from time to 
time the court of Spain introduced, with the avowed 
object of improving the condition of the people, were 
unproductive of any material results. 

The spirit of clanship prevailed over justice and 
law, and so marked was the distinction kept up between 
the European and the Mexican Spaniards, that the son 



44 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

who had the misfortune to be born of a Creole mother 
was considered, even in the house of his own father, 
inferior to the European book-keeper or clerk. Of all 
the aristocratical distinctions in Mexico, those of country 
and color were the greatest. The word Creole was used 
as a term of reproach, and was thought to express all 
the contempt that language could convey. 

To render these distinctions more lasting, the great 
mass of the people were kept in ignorance; and they 
were taught to believe that they were fortunate in be- 
longing to a monarchy superior in power and dignity 
to any other in the world. A printing press was con- 
ceded to Mexico as a special privilege, while the same 
boon was denied to some other Spanish colonies, 
lyiberty to found a school of any kind was almost in- 
variably refused, and the municipality of Buenos Ayres 
was told, in answer to a petition for the establishment 
of a school, in which nothing but mathematics was to 
be taught, that "learning did not become colonies." 

The most serious cause of disquiet to the Mexican 
Creole was the commercial restrictions imposed upon 
them by the Spanish government. From the first 
Spain reserved to herself the exclusive right of supply- 
ing the wants of her colonies. No foreigner was per- 
mitted to trade with them nor foreign vessel to enter 
their ports, nor could a Mexican own a ship. The 
colonies were forbidden to manufacture any article that 
the mother-country could furnish; and they were com- 
pelled to receive from Spain many necessaries with 
which the fertility of their own soil would have supplied 
them. The cultivation of the vine and the olive was 
prohibited, and that of many kinds of colonial produce 
was tolerated only unrler certain limitations and in snch 



FROM C0R7EZ TO DIAZ. 45 

quantities as the mother-country might wish to export. 

By these regulations, those parts not enriched by 
mines of gold or silver were sunk in poverty in the 
midst of their natural riches. As the centuries passed, 
some of these restrictions were modified, but foreigners 
were rigidly excluded from the markets, and the court 
of Spain enforced the right to an exclusive dominion 
over the vast seas surrounding its American possessions. 

A distinguished writer of those times gives the fol- 
lowing description of the administration of the govern- 
ment in Mexico during the reign of Charles IV., in the 
latter part of the eighteenth century: "Every office 
was publicly sold, with the exception of those that were 
bestowed upon court minions as the reward of disgrace- 
ful services. Men destitute of talent, education and 
character were appointed to offices of the greatest re- 
sponsibility in Church and State; and panders and 
parasites were forced upon America to superintend the 
finances and preside in the supreme courts of appeal. 
For the colonists there was no respite from official blood- 
suckers. Each succeeding swarm of adventurers in 
their eagerness to indemnify themselves for the money 
expended in purchasing their places, increased the 
calamities of provinces already wasted by the cupidity 
of their predecessors. Truly might the Hispano Ameri- 
cans have exclaimed, 'That which the palmer worm 
hath left hath the locust eaten; that which the locust 
hath left hath the canker worm eaten, and that which 
the canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.' "* 

The same writer thus forcibly describes the con- 
ditions of Mexico immediately preceding the events 
which led to the revolution: "The condition of Mexico 



♦Kennedy, in his history of Texas, 1841. 



46 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

at the beginning of the present century was stamped 
with the repulsive features of an anarchical and semi- 
barbarous society, of which the elements were an 
aboriginal population, satisfied with existing in unmo- 
lested indigence; a chaos of parti colored castes, equally 
passive, superstitious and ignorant; a numerous Creole 
class, wealthy, mortified and discontented; and a com- 
pact phalanx of European officials, the pampered mame- 
lukes of the crown, who contested for and profited by 
every act of administrative iniquity. Public opinion 
was unrepresented, there were no popularly chosen 
authorities, no deliberative assemblies of the people, no 
independent publications, for the miserably meager 
press was but a shadow, a light-abhorring phanton 
evoked to stifle free discussion by suppressing its cause, 
and bound to do the evil bidding of a blind, disastrous, 
suicidal tyranny. ' ' 

As early as 1502 the Spanish monarch was con- 
stituted head of the American church, and no separate 
spiritual jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff was allowed 
to interfere with the royal prerogative in which was 
concentrated every branch of authority and to which all 
classes were taught to look for honor and preferment. 
Under this system the security of the power of Spain 
depended upon the ignorance and blind idolatry of the 
people, whom education would have made impatient of 
the yoke which comparison would have rendered doubly 
galling. 

Mental slavery and entire subjection to the will and 
judgment of spiritual teachers was the secret of. this 
system of arbitrary rule by which Spain during three 
centuries so quietly governed Mexico. Spain was held 
up to the people as the queen of nations; and the 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 47 

Spanish, as the only Christian language; and the people 
were taught that their fate was much better than that 
of any others of mankind. 

To perpetuate this ignorance and effectually guard 
against foreign influences, the " Laws of the Indies" 
made it a capital crime for a foreigner to enter the 
Spanish colonies without a special license from his 
Catholic majesty, the king of Spain; nor were these 
licenses granted unless researches in natural history 
were the ostensible object of the applicant. 

All Protestants were indiscriminately condemned 
as unbelievers and heretics, with whom no good Catho- 
lic could hold intercourse without contamination. 

In Mexico as in Spain, the inquisition was firmly 
established with all of its horrid, inhuman and unchrist- 
ian rites; and it discharged its duties with relentless 
rigor and excessive zeal. 

Its tendency was not only to direct the conscience 
in matters of religion, but to stifle inquiry in everything 
that could give enlightenment upon the science of poli- 
tics and government. Modern histories and political 
writings were rigorously proscribed in Mexico; and in 
181 1 the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people was 
denounced as a damnable heresy. Thus doctrines 
directly opposed to Republican principles, and based 
upon ignorance and prejudice, were carefully inter- 
woven with the religion of the people. 



CHAPTER IV. 



1808 TO 181 1 

Bonaparte; and Spain — ^Joseph on the; Throne — 
Spain Adopts a Constitution — Who Owns 
Mexico ? — Hidalgo's Conspiracy — Insurrec- 
tion — Politics — El Grito de Dolores — Cap- 
tures Cities — Excommunication — Battles — 
Retreat — Capture and Death oe Hidalgo. 

SOME of the iniquities of the system of government 
which prevailed in Mexico for three centuries have 
been presented. As it was not in the nature of 
things that such a system should prevail any longer 
than the power to enforce it was retained, it is not sur- 
prising to find that the subversion of the Spanish mon- 
archy in Europe was followed by the separation of the 
colonies from the mother-country, and the final estab- 
lishment of their independence. 

Spain at this period was a divided and degraded 
nation. The king, Chas. IV, old and imbecile, was 
ruled by his queen, whose wicked passions were entirely 
under the influence of the base and unprincipled Godoy, 
who had been raised by her guilty love from a low 
station to the supreme conduct of affairs. This ruling 
junto was held in hatred and contempt by a powerful 
party, at the head of which was Prince Ferdinand, heir 
to the throne. 

While Napoleon, emperor of the French, was 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 49 

secretly advancing his long cherished schemes for seiz- 
ing the throne of Spain, the royal family was engaged 
in petty conspiracies and domestic broils. Terrified at 
length by a popular outbreak against himself and his 
minister, the king abdicated the throne in favor of his 
son Ferdinand. 

Napoleon now saw and improved his opportunity. 
French troops were sent across the frontier to occupy 
important posts, while Murat, with a large army, took 
possession'of the capital. In the mean time Chas. IV, 
regretting the steps he had taken, and asserting that 
his abdication had been the result of fear and compul- 
sion, appealed to Napoleon and invoked his assistance 
in restoring him to the throne. Napoleon enticed the 
whole royal family to Bayonne, and compelled both 
father and sou to renounce the throne; and a few days 
later, Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, was 
proclaimed king of Spain. 

Although the schemes of Napoleon were assisted 
by a party among the Spaniards themselves, yet the 
spirit of the nation generally was roused by the usurpa- 
tion; and first a central junta, and then a regency, was 
established, which was declared to be the only legiti- 
mate souice of power during the captivity of the 
sovereign. 

A democratic constitution and the sovereignty of 
the people were now substituted for the royal prerogative 
and the divine right of kings, and both the form and 
the spirit of the Spanish government were essentially 
changed. 

These events created a powerful impression upon 
th'e generally ignorant population of Mexico, where un- 
til then, Spain had been regarded as the mother of 



50 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

kingdoms, on whose dominions the sun never set, and 
whose arms were the terror of the world. 

As it had ever been an established principle that 
the Spanish possessions of America were vested in the 
crown and not in the State, the king was the only tie 
that connected the colonies with the mother country; 
and they could see no justice in the claim by which 
their obedience was demanded to a government which 
the Spanish people had adopted in the absence of their 
monarch. As Spain itself was over-run and occupied 
by the arms of France, the people concluded that the 
government was absolutely destroyed. 

So, when tidings of the dethronement of the Span- 
ish monarch in 1808, and the occupation of the capital by 
a French arm}-, reached Mexico, the viceroy solicited the 
support of the people, and declared his determination to 
preserve to the last his fidelity to his and their sovereign. 
The people, flattered by the importance so unexpectedly 
conceded to them, gladly expressed their devoted 
loyalty and their resolve to support the authority of the 
viceroy. A very kind feeling immediately grew up be- 
tween the government and the Creoles; and as a further 
measure to conciliate the latter, it was proposed that a 
national assembly should be called, to be composed of 
deputies from the provinces, elected by the people. . 

This measure, however, was violently opposed by 
the European Spaniards, as being an infraction of their 
rights and a violation of the prerogatives of the crown. 
Finding that the viceroy was determined to admit the 
Creoles to a large share in the government, the court of 
the audiencia, the highest judicial tribunal cf Mexico, 
composed entirely of Europeans, seized the viceroy, 
whom they imprisoned with his principal adherents. 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 51 

The Kuropeaus both in the capital and in the in- 
terior then formed patriotic associations for the defense 
of what they termed their rights, and armed themselves 
against the Creoles. Although the latter, unused to 
arms, submitted for the moment, yet their spirits were 
aroused, and the subject of controversj^ became one, not 
between their sovereign and themselves as subjects, but 
between themselves and the comparatively small number 
o£ European Spaniards, as to which should possess the 
right of administering the government during the cap- 
tivit}^ of the king. 

The violence and arrogance of the audiencia in- 
creased among the Creoles their feelings of hostility to 
the Europeans, a general impatience to shake off the 
yoke of foreign control was manifested throughout the 
entire country, and clubs were formed, which, while 
nominally of a literary character, were really political 
in their nature and plans. These clubs had ah organi- 
zation and maintained correspondence with each other, 
with the view to future co-operation in the work of 
revolution. 

The best organized of these societies had head- 
quarters at Dolores, a little town about 190 miles north- 
west from the capital, where the parish priest, Manuel 
Hidalgo, officiated and was president of the club. This 
priest was born on the 8th of May, 1752; and, though 
of poor and humble parentage, he was educated for the 
ecclesiastical profession in a school at Valladolid. 

In 1779, he took holy orders at the capital, and 
held various livings; and at the death of his brother, 
also a priest, he succeeded him as Cura at Dolores. 
His learning and good qualities gained for him great 
popularity and influence wherever he was known. To 



52 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

him has been given the title of The Father of Mexi- 
can Independence. 

After many years of reflection upon the wrongs 
perpetrated upon the Mexican people by the viceroys 
and other Europeans who were officers of the govern- 
ment, and also upon the proper measure for their relief 
and redress, he resolved to take steps toward organizing 
a government by Mexicans, of Mexicans and for Mexi- 
cans. He took into his confidence three captains of the 
Mexican army named Allende, Aldamas and Arias, all 
of whom were of mixed blood; and also two attorneys 
named Altamarino and lyaso. After long deliberation, 
they adopted a plan of action, which was, to make 
prisoners of all public officers, all Europeans, and of all 
persons of importance who were in any manner con- 
nected with the government or in sympathy with it. 

Having so done, they were to proclaim Mexico in- 
dependent of Spain; to form a government, to be com- 
posed of a senate and house of representatives from the 
people of the provinces; and to establish this govern- 
ment in the interest and in the name of Ferdinand VII 
as sovereign. They were to prepare for the successful 
inauguration of this plan by enlisting confederates and 
co-operative companies in some of the principal cities of 
the country; and to have all ready for consummation by 
the 8th of December, 1810, when the great annual fair 
for the valley of the Lerma took place at San Juan de 
los Lagos, in the state of Jalisco, when the great 
number of people attending would enable them to col- 
lect a sufficient force without exciting suspicion. 

Hidalgo, as before stated, was the officiating priest 
at Dolores; and the officers were on duty at San Miguel 
and elsewhere in some of the cities of the valley of the 



FRO.V C0R7EZ TO DIAZ. 53 

Lerma, which is the longest river in Mexico, and has in 
its tributary vallej's some of the most important cities 
and centers of population in the whole country. One of 
the features of the plan proposed was to confiscate the 
property of the captured victims and then to send them 
back to Spain. 

It was in iSog that the promoters of this revolution 
first commenced their work of organization, though Hi- 
dalgo, the leader, had long been indulging in emotions 
of hostility and sympathy, while considering the wrongs 
perpetrated upon and endured by the Creoles, mestizos 
and Indians at the hands of the viceroy and Spaniards. 

Allende and Aldama visited some of the cities of 
the country in pursuance of the plan; and all worked 
well, until a traitor disclosed the scheme, when imme- 
diately arrests were made in Valladolid and Queretaro. 
The information of the arrests and the disclosures came 
to Hidalgo in the night of September 15, 18 10, while he 
was in bed. Hastily rising, he proceeded, with the as- 
sistance of nine comrades, one of them being his lieu- 
tenant Allende, to liberate and arm the prisoners, 
mostly political, in the Dolores jail, and to arrest and 
imprison all the Spaniards in the city. 

By this time it was morning, and being Sunday, 
he had the bells of his church rung for mass at an un- 
usually early hour. After officiating for the last time 
at that place in this religious duty, he informed the 
gathered worshippers of the situation of affairs, and as- 
sured them that under the guidance of divine providence 
a new era had dawned upon the country. He stated 
that the French emperor, Napoleon, had taken posses- 
sion of their king and of the throne of Spain, had dese- 
crated their sacred places and threatened to overthrow 



54 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

their holy religion; and that the Spaniards, after having 
despoiled their ancestors and themselves for three hun- 
dred years, were now consummating their infamy by sel- 
ling them out to the French infidels. 

He told them that the time for action on their part 
had now come. When he asked, "Will you be slaves 
of Napoleon or will you as patriots defend your re- 
ligion, your hearths and your rights?" there was a 
unanimous cry, "We will defend to the utmost ! Long 
live religion, long live our most holy mother of Guadar 
lupe ! I*ong live America ! Death to bad government, 
and death to the Gachupines ! " This was El grito de. 
Dolores, "the cry of Dolores," and it became the watch- 
word of the revolution. 

So it was that the poor and oppressed of this little 
Indian town proclaimed the independence of a great na- 
tion. From a neighboring church Hidalgo took a 
banner containing a picture of the virgin of Guadalupe 
(the same banner now to be seen in the National 
Museum) and, fixing it upon a lance, adopted it as the 
flag of his army. * 

To the inspiration of religious zeal Hidalgo added 
the more enthusing hope of gain. He divided out to his 
mob the property of the captured Spaniards, and assured 
them of a continuance of the "spoils system" as long as 
they remained soldiers of the army. 

In after days, when Hidalgo was remonstrated with 
regarding the taking and malicious destruction of prop- 
erty, he declared that the license was necessary as a 
measure to debilitate the enemy and attract proselytes 
to the revolution; and that he had good reasons in ex- 
tenuation of his conduct: — In the first place, the Indians 
had been unjustly deprived of their lands at the time of 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 55 

the conquest. The Castillians had thus committed rob- 
bery when they dispossessed the original owners. They 
had also despoiled the Indians of all their rights and 
goods, and had reduced them to slavery. The riches 
which the Spaniards now had in their possession, of 
right belonged to the descendents of the aborigines, who 
were still the equitable owners of the lands. It was well 
known that in originally taking their lands and goods, 
greater violence had been practiced and inflicted. He 
also said, in the second place, that as he had no funds 
with which he could pay and support his troops, it was 
necessary to take from the enemy the required amount. 

But Hidalgo's impromptu army was without arms. 
In this emergency the lance, bow and arrow, machete, 
sling, club and garrote wer-e iised as substitutes for fire- 
arms. With a force of four thousand men, Hidalgo and 
Allende commenced, on Sunday, their march to revolu- 
tionize the country, free it from foreigners and foreign 
control, and to form a new government which, strangely 
enough, was still to be in the name of the Spanish mon- 
arch, Ferdinand VII. 

Their first objective point was San Miguel le 
Grande, now called San Miguel Allende, in honor of 
Hidalgo's military associate. This place offered no re- 
sistance, but all of the Spanish residents lost their 
liberty and property. The mob arni}^ had increased to 
many thousands; and, with liberty of action and mili- 
tary rights hitherto unknown, the}" literally revelled. 
With the consent of Allende and the garrison of that 
place, they took all of the arms at the barracks. They 
also took of goods and property as suited their tastes and 
wishes; and with free access to pulque and other liquors, 
they ran riot; and order was restored only when Allende, 



56 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITKS, 

sword in hand, traversed the mob and forced them to 
desist. Hidalgo possessed himself of all the public funds 
and relieved the Spaniards and other "offensive parti- 
sans" of their cash. 

On the 1 8th of September he resumed his march 
and passed down the north branch of the lycrma, taking 
cities, citizens and property on the announced principles 
of his campaign. 

At Celaya his forces amounted to 50,000 men, and 
there an organization was had. Hidalgo proclaimed 
himself captain general of America and Allende lieu- 
tenant general. The troops were organized into the 
semblance of an army by companies, regiments, bri- 
gades and divisions, as well as could be effected with 
the material of which it was composed. Celaya is about 
sixty miles from Dolores and on the direct road to the 
City of Mexico. 

But with an army of 50,000 spoils-enthused, re- 
ligion-inspired, superstitious and vengeful Mexican 
Indians, so rich a booty as the city of Guanajuato was 
not to be overlooked; and so the captain general marched 
on the morning of September 23d for that city, which 
was as far north as Dolores and about twenty-five miles 
west of the same. The march of some eighty miles was 
accomplished by the 27th, and on the 28th Hidalgo 
demanded a surrender with the threat to put all to the 
knife if resistance was made. 

Guanajuato was a very rich city of 80,000 people, • 
9,000 of them contributed to the wealth of the same as 
operatives in the 1,800 mines, 116 mills and 366 facto- 
ries. Knowing of Hidalgo's approach and intentions, 
the citizens who were subject to his animosity joined 
with a small garrison in preparing for defense. Such 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 57 

of the inhabitants as could boast of neither wealth, 
Spanish blood nor official position, left the city and took 
seats upon the ground on the surrounding hills to view 
the conflict with more calmness and indifference than if 
it was to be a bull fight; but when the city was captured 
they joined in the sack and secured spoils. 

Resistance having been made and the city taken, 
the threats of Hidalgo were realized by the unfortunate 
victims to the utmost. It is left to the imagination to 
supply the incapacity of speech to do justice in the way 
of description. With 50,000 fanatics in full control of 
the rich spoils of the wealthy city, their numbers aug- 
mented by the multitudes of residents, in full sympathy, 
to wreak vengance upon the hated Spaniards, such 
dreadful scenes were presented as to cause the control- 
ling demon of destruction to be fully satisfied. Blood 
was shed in pure hatred of life, property was taken and 
destroyed from pure malice; and only when nothing 
remained to tempt cupidit> or inspire vicious activity, 
was the semblance of order restored, and then it was 
largely the quiet and satiety of inebriation. 

Hidalgo, being educated, refined, and moreover a 
member of the sacerdotal order in the Roman Catholic 
church, had his sensibilities greatly disturbed by the 
disorder consequent on the sack of the city, and made 
sincere efforts to control his army. But the sum of $5,- 
000,000 added to his treasury by their valor and assist- 
ance gave evidence that in the matter of spoils, thei 
general and his army was a unit in motive and mode of 
procedure. 

Hidalgo remained at Guanajuato, organizing and 
equipping his army and replenishing his treasur}^, until 
the loth of October, when he marched upon Valladolid,' 



58 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

his numbers having been augmented to 60,000 men. 
Valladolid surrendered without resistar>ce, but the 
Spaniards had fled to the capital. Here Hidalgo added 
several well organized and armed companies of militia 
to his army, as well as a vast multitude of spoils-thirsty 
Indians. But a still more valuable acquisition was the 
warlike Priest Morelos, who afterwards became one of 
the most distinguished generals of the revolution. 

When Hidalgo commenced his operations, the 
Spanish General Calleja was in command at San lyuis 
Potosi, some eighty miles north of Dolores. He 
promptly organized a force with which to contend with 
the revolt, but was misled as to the plans and move- 
ments of Hidalgo. So the "fighting parson" was per- 
mitted to march, slay and plunder without much resist- 
ance. Still Hidalgo knew of the general and his army, 
and also knew that if he wished to succeed he must act 
promptly. Therefore he marched from Valladolid — 
now called Morelia — toward the City of Mexico, on the 
2oth of October. On the way he captured Toluca, 
within twenty-five miles of the capital. 

In the meantime Venegas, the viceroy, had col- 
lected about 7,000 men in and near the City of Mexico 
for its defense. A small corps, under the command of 
Truzillo, assisted by Iturbide, then a lieutenant in the 
Spanish service, having advanced to I^as Cruces, about 
twelve miles from the city, was met by Hidalgo with 
his whole force, then numbering nearly 100,000 men. 

A battle took place which lasted from 8 o'clock in 
the forenoon to 5 o'clock in the evening, when the 
loyalists were put to flight. Although the loss of 
Hidalgo had been great, he had gained a great victory, 
and the City of Mexico was at his feet. Allende and 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 59 

others of the army urged an immediate march for the 
prize, but for some unaccountable reason, he vacillated 
from his former vigorous policy, and after remaining 
for three days in camp on the field of battle, where the 
city was almost if not really in view, he ordered a re- 
tiring move and started back to the north. 

His soldiers, who had hoped for the rich spoils to 
be had in the sack of the city, were greatly disappointed 
at their loss. Allende and Aldama were disgusted at the 
failure to secure the grand political results which the 
occupancy of the city would have made possible. On 
the retreat to the north many desertions took place, and 
the subsequent career of Hidalgo was a .series of failures 
and disasters. 

On the 7th of November he unexpectedly met the 
army of Calleja, who was coming from the north in 
search of the insurgents. The meeting was on the 
plains of Aculco, and Hidalgo lost ten thousand men in 
the battle and slaughter which followed. He and most 
of his officers escaped, and with part of his army fled to 
Cela5^a, where he reorganized his defeated forces and 
added recruits, who either not knowing of or disregard- 
ing his defeat, still flocked to his standard, so that on 
the 15th of November he marched for Guadalajara. 
Here he was received with all the demonstrations of joy 
which could be awarded to victors and friends. 

It may be stated that when the revolutionary move- 
ments became known, the government offered large 
rewards for the heads of Hidalgo, Allende and Aldama, 
while the Church hurled anathemas at them and ex- 
communicated the three. Hidalgo was also called to 
appear before the inquisition, to answer to the charge 
of heresy and apostacy; and from the pulpit he was de- 



6o HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

nounced as a monster of wickedness. The bishops and 
other clergy published addresses and exhortations in 
which they represented him in the most dark and 
despicable colors. The archbishop of Mexico issued 
edicts and denunciations against him and his followers. 

These acts of opposition on the part of the Church 
were not fruitless in their effects on the citizens from 
whom Hidalgo had and expected recruits; and, know- 
ing that unchallenged or neglected on his part, his in- 
fluence and hopes would be lost and disappointed, he 
took occasion while at Guadalajara to pay his respects 
to the edicts and the commands to appear before the 
inquisition. He therefore published a circular in which 
he solemnly declared that he never had apostatized 
from the holy faith of the Catholic church, and that he 
reprobated the charge of heresy. 

He claimed that in breaking the chains which held 
the people in oppression he had not performed any bad 
or censurable act. He further in said circular proclaimed 
the emancipation of all slaves, and decreed death to all 
who disobeyed his mandate. He exempted people of 
all classes from payment of taxes, and promised a con- 
gress which should enact just and beneficent laws for 
all people alike. 

He had an altar placed in the door of the cathedral 
and, robed in sacerdotal vestments, assisted by the 
clergy of the place, solemnized mass and closed with 
the Te Deum. By these acts Hidalgo fully challenged 
both Church and State. 

He also formally organized a provisional govern- 
ment and appointed many of the ofiicers; and, notwith- 
standing his subsequent personal failures and death, his 
following was such that most of the states in the north, 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 6i 

and some in the center and south, were for a time lost 
to the control of the viceroy. 

His courageous acts did not fail to secure recruits, 
as in him and his success the people saw a new govern- 
ment erected in their behalf, while with his failure they 
would suffer deeper degradation and greater impositions 
because of their fellowship with him and their support 
of the revolution. Again he raised an army of 100,000 
men and gave battle at the bridge of Calderon, a short 
distance from Guadalajara, on the 17th of January, 181 1. 

In this battle Hidalgo was defeated with great loss 
and his army was dispersed. He himself, with other 
officers, escaped, and by various roads retreated to the 
north and rendezvoused at Zacatecas. But in the rout 
of his forces the treasure boxes, containing $800,000, 
were saved. 

To return to the defeat of Hidalgo at Aculco, it 
may be stated that Allende then separated from the 
main army with a detachment to operate alone. He 
moved back towards Guanajuato, but en route encount- 
ered a part of the royalist forces, by whom he was de- 
feated. After this he moved rapidly to the city and 
slaughtered many Spaniards who had escaped the pre- 
vious massacre or had located there afterwards. Having 
so done, he moved to the north and joined Hidalgo at 
Zacatecas. 

Calleja, soon after Allende 's departure, entered the 
city of Guanajuato, where he avenged the royal cause for 
the excesses which the insurgent populace had previ- 
ously committed against the Europeans. To avoid the 
waste of powder and ball, it is said that he cut the 
throats of his victims or used the gallows. But an act 
of clemency may be mentioned in his favor — he brought 



62 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

the accused before a judge for trial. But the processes 
were brief and few accused escaped. Still, after con- 
viction, they were passed to the priest, who hastily per- 
formed the offices of the holy Church for the benefit of 
their immortal souls, an act of religious sympathy 
which the Priest Hidalgo altogether neglected as to his 
victims. 

As an illustration of the manner in which the 
royalist troops controlled the country, it is stated that 
on November i6, 1810, General Cruz, loyalist, attacked 
the village of Huichapan, where one of the insurgents 
chiefs, named Villagran, had made rendezvous and 
interrupted commerce and travel between Queretaro and 
the capital. The, chief took refuge in the hills and 
woods, when Cruz gathered all of the people of the town 
together, took all weapons and all implements of hus- 
bandry, and even the scissors of the women, and burned 
them and all of the houses to ashes, and then put all of 
the people to the knife. 

From Zacatecas, Hidalgo with his forces, reduced 
to about 4,000 men, marched to Saltillo. There, con- 
sidering the matter of future action and preparing to 
continue the contest for liberty from Spanish rule, it 
was decided that Hidalgo and his lieutenants should go 
to the United States, there to purchase arms and secure 
aid. They hoped that they would thereby soon be able 
to take the field with an army of sufficient numbers and 
suitable arms to meet successfully the heretofore better 
organized and armed royal forces. 

Hidalgo had previously appointed Aldama as 
minister to the United States, where he was to represent 
the new government and provide for aid. Aldama, 
however, was captured, and fell into the hands of the 



FROM C0R7EZ TO DIAZ. 63 

enemy, who executed him at Monclove. From some of 
his attendants they learned of Hidalgo's plans, and 
thereby they were enabled to place an ambuscade on the 
road and to effect his capture, together with his officers, 
Allende and Jiminez, and also the treasure. 

In chains and with inhuman treatment the prisoners 
were taken to Chihuahua. There on trial they were all 
condemned to death. Allende and Jiminez with two 
others were shot on the 26th of May, but as Hidalgo 
was a priest, he was turned over to the ecclesiastical 
tribunal to be dealt with under the canonical laws. 

He suffered great humiliation in the processes of 
penance for more than two months, and then was taken 
to execution early on the morning of July 31, 181 1. 
His clerical robes were taken from him, and in the 
garb of a common prisoner and loaded with chains, he 
was led to the place of execution. He remained firm, 
calm and courageous to the end, and placed his manacled 
hand over his heart to indicate the spot at which the 
soldiers should aim. They were bad marksmen; for, 
though the balls cut through his hand at the first, it yet 
required three discharges to dispatch him, and the last 
was with the muzzle of the gun almost touching his body. 

As an incident in the life of Hidalgo, which to some 
extent shows his disposition and patriotism, it is stated 
that while at Saltillo he received an exemplar, or 
printed copy of an offer of amnesty from the Spanish 
cortes, made to all insurgents who should lay down 
their arms and return to their allegiance with assur- 
ances of pardon. This was accompanied with an ex- 
hortation from General Cruz; that he should avail him- 
self of the royal offer and thus put an end to the shed- 
ding of blood. 



64 



HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 



Hidalgo replied that "He had no power to accept 
the offer. First, that he had no confidence in the good 
faith of the promises of the royalists; second, that he 
had no right to compromise or abandon the holy cause 
of liberty. Perhaps the cause of liberty might be gained 
by his death. What was life or death in comparison 




HIDAI^GO. 



with liberty? The end of his life could not be very 
distant, but the liberty which he expected to secure for 
his country would never die. So then, keep silent and 
fight General Cruz. To pardon is the right of God 
only, and pardon is for delinquents and not for a de- 
fender of his country."* 

*Historia de Mexico. 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ, 65' 

The heads of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and 
Jiminez were cut off, and enclosed in iron cages were 
hung up at the four corners of the Castle Granadites, 
in Guanajuato. But in 1823, when the cause for which 
they had planned, fought and died had triumphed, they 
with their bodies were reverently placed in the great 
cathedral in Mexico, where they now rest in honor 
among the tombs of former viceroys and subsequent 
presidents. 

Inasmuch as the cause for which they died eventu- 
ally triumphed, they are entitled to have their names 
enrolled among those of famous patriots and martyrs of 
the world. 

The name of Hidalgo, the parish priest, anathe- 
matized, deposed and excommunicated by the ecclesi- 
astical authorities and executed by the government as 
he was, will live in the esteem and affections of all 
lovers of liberty and haters of oppression, while history 
is written and patriotism survives among men. 

With the death of the leaders of the revolution the 
royalists naturally supposed that the end had come. 
But they found their mistake, for the Grita de Dolores, 
once sounded, continued to flow, echo and resound in 
all parts of the country. 

It was the first cheering note of sympathy which 
the Indians had heard for three centuries, and it fell 
upon their ears with joy and inspired their hearts with 
hope and patriotic resolution. It was indeed a new era, 
as declared by Hidalgo on that never to be forgotten 
Sunday morning, the i6th of September, 18 10. 



CHAPTER V. 



181I TO 1821. 

HiDAi^Go's Successors — BattivEs — Victories — De- 
feats—Congress — Declaration op Independ- 
ence — Capture and Death of Moreeos — In- 
quisition — IvAST Auto de fe — Defeat — Capture 
AND Death op Revolutionists — Overthrow of 
Revolution. ■ . 

ON THE fall of Hidalgo, Ramon Rayon, a lawyer 
whom Hidalgo had appointed secretary of state 
of the new government while at Guadalajara, as- 
sumed command of the remaining revolutionists at Sal- 
tillo and retreated with them to Zacatecas; but his au- 
thority was acknowledged by few. 

Though insurgent forces were organized through- 
out all of the central and northern provinces, yet there 
was no concerted action among their commanders. 
This was to be expected in view of the difficulty of com- 
municating with each other, the roads being few and 
the mails forbidden to them, and of the activity of the 
royalist government and commanders, who by the exer- 
cise of great vigilence over the country, and violence 
upon prisoners and couriers, secured and maintained 
control over all the principal cities. 

In the meantime Morelos, the priest, a former 
student of Hidalgo, who had joined the revolutionists 
at Valladolid, had not been idle. In October, before he 



FROM C0R7EZ TO DIAZ. 67 

marched upon the capital, Hidalgo had sent him to 
operate in the South. There he developed considerable 
strength and marched toward Acapulco. In a battle 
near that city he, with an inferior army poorly equipped, 
defeated a large number of royalists, whereby he gained 
possession of eight hundred muskets, fiv-e pieces of 
artillery, a quantity of ammunition and a considerable 
sum of money. 

Seven hundred prisoners were taken, all of whom 
were treated with the greatest humanity. This success 
laid the foundation of all the after triumphs of Morelos, 
and from this time he made rapid and astonishing pro- 
gress. By a series of victories, which were never 
tarnished by cruelties during the year 1 8 1 1 , he overcame 
several detachments sent against him by the viceroy; 
and in February, 1812, he advanced into the valley of 
Mexico. 

The alarm created by this movement drew upon 
him the blood-thirsty General Calleja, who, with the 
army with which he had defeated Hidalgo and his hosts 
at Aculco and at the Bridge of Calderon, marched 
against this most formidable and skillful of all the in- 
surgent commanders. 

Morelos, having taken and fortified Cuautla as a 
base of action, met Calleja on the plains in which the 
town was situated, and defeated him, having inflicted 
the loss of five hundred men, who were left dead upon 
the field. But the blood of the Spanish general was 
raised to excessive heat at being defeated by this 
Mestizo chief with his badly armed Mexicans, and he 
advanced again to the conflict; but, instead of giving 
battle in the field, he contented himself with laying 
siege. 



68 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

Morelos made many assaults upon the besiegers 
with success. But famine reduced his forces, and want 
of food and water caused great distress. So great was 
the scarcity that a cat sold for six dollars, a lizzard for 
two, a rat for one. Worms, waterbugs and insects were 
consumed for food, and old hides and scraps of leather 
were added to the meat food of the besieged soldiers and 
citizens. 

The soldiers endured all this with fortitude and un- 
complaining resignation; and as all talk of surrender was 
to be met with death; it was determined when hope of 
re-enforcements and supplies had been abandoned that 
the place should be evacuated. This was effected with 
such skill that the enemy did not know of it until the 
rear guard was out of the walls. Then Calleja attacked 
and inflicted some damage. 

During this siege Victoria and Bravo, both young 
men, first distinguished themselves. At the same time 
Guerrero, in the successful defense of a neighboring 
town, began his long, perilous and distinguished career. 

While these events were transpiring Rayon. had 
conceived the idea of organizing the military move- 
ments into a system of attack, and at the same time, 
and to further that plan, to establish a national junta or 
representative assembly for the purpose of uniting the 
people in a more general coalition against the Spanish 
power. In accordance with these views a central gov- 
ernment, composed of five members, elected from the 
people of the districts, was installed in the town of 
Zitacuaro on the loth of September, 1811. 

This body acknowledged the authority of King 
Ferdinand, published their edicts in his name, and 
evinced a liberal and enlighted spirit in all its proceed- 



FROM CORIEZ TO DTAZ. 69 

ings; but the flattering hopes excited by it among the 
Creoles were never realized. The good intentions and 
wisdom of the junta were shown by an able manifesto 
drawn up by General Cos, one of its nfembers, and 
transmitted to the viceroy. This paper was burned in 
the great square of the city by the public executioner; 
but, regardless of the contempt with which it was 
treated, it produced great effect upon the public mind, 
enforced as it was by the successes of Morelos in the 
field during the years of 1810-11-12. 

During the summer of the last named year the 
troops of Morelos were almost uniformly successful in 
their numerous encounters with forces of the viceroy. 

In August, after an engagement at Palmar that 
lasted three days, the village to which the Spaniards 
had retired was stormed by General Bravo, and three 
hundred prisoners were taken. These were all offered 
to the viceroy in exchange for the father of Bravo, then 
a prisoner at the capital and under sentence of death as 
a revolutionist; but the offer was rejected, and Bravo 
was immediately executed. The noble-hearted son. 
General Bravo, who was afterward honored with many 
high and important offices in the republic, instead of re- 
venging himself by the massacre of his prisoners, im- 
mediately set them at liberty, wishing, as he said, "to 
put it out of his power to avenge on them the death of 
his father, lest in the first moments of grief the tempta- 
tion should prove irresistible." 

In November, Oaxaca was captured by storm, 
although defended by a strong ro3^alist garrison; and in 
August of 18 13, the strongly fortified city of Acapulco 
surrendered, after a siege of six months. 

In the meantime a national congress, composed of 



70 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

the original junta and deputies elected by the neighbor- 
ing provinces, assembled at the town of Chilpancingo, 
about 130 miles south of the capital, on the 13th day of 
September, 18 13, and on the 13th of November pro- 
claimed the independence of Mexico. This measure 
produced little impression upon the country, as from 
that time the fortunes of Morelos, the founder and pro- 
tector of the congress, began to decline. 

Morelos had long entertained a desire to be pos- 
sessed of Valladolid, his native city, and there to estab- 
lish a center of operations. To accomplish this he left 
Chilpancingo in November, with a force of seven thous- 
and men, and marched upon that city, where he found 
a formidable force under Iturbide prepared to oppose 
him. 

With his usual impetuosity Morelos made the at- 
tack, but was repulsed with loss. On the following day 
Iturbide made a counter-attack while the revolutionists 
were holding a review on the adjoining plain. At the 
same time a large reinforcing insurgent force, mistaking 
their friends and allies, made a furious attack on their 
flanks. Iturbide taking advantage of their error, suc- 
ceeded in putting the whole army of the insurgents to 
flight, with the loss of all their artillery. On the 6th of 
January following Morelos was again attacked and de- 
feated by Iturbide. 

In the dispersion which followed Matamoras, a fel- 
low priest and insurgent-general in Morelos' army was 
taken prisoner; and although Morelos offered a number 
of Spanish prisoners in exchange for him, yet the 
viceroy rejected the offer, and ordered him shot. The 
insurgents, by means of reprisal, immediately put all 
of their prisoners to death. 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ 71 

Morelos never recovered from the losses which he 
sustained at Valladolid. Although he displayed as 
much resolution and energy as before, yet he lost action 
after action. All his strong posts were taken, the con- 
gress at Chilpancingo was broken up, and several of his 
best generals died on the field of battle or perished upon 
the scaffold. 

In November of 18 15, while convoying a small 
party of the deputies of congress to a place of safety, 
he was attacked by a large force of royalist troops. 
Ordering General Bravo to continue the march with the 
main body as an escort to the congress, and remarking 
that his life was of little consequence, so that the con- 
gress could be saved; he endeavored with only fifty men 
to check the advance of the Spaniards. He gained the 
desired time, and with only one living survivor was 
taken prisoner. Spanish barbarity prompted to the most 
severe and inhuman treatment. He was stripped of his 
clothing and taken in chains to a Spanish garrison. He 
suffered abuse and great humiliation on his way to the 
City of Mexico. 

His case was brought before the inquisition, which, 
having been suspended in June, 18 13, was re-established 
in January, 1814, to combat the spread of "revolution- 
ary ideas" in Mexico. 

This auto de fe was held on the 26th of November, 
18 15. He was found guilty of heresy, of profaning the 
sacraments, of disregarding his religious obligations, of 
having despised totally all ecclesiastical authority, and 
of having lived immorally and in expiation, therefor, he 
ur.i made to put on the dress of a penitent, and in the 
presence of an immense audience abjure his heresies 
with religious exercises. The ceremony of reconcilia- 



72 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

tioii was held with the penitent upon his knees, reciting 
the proper ceremonial words, and enduring the proper 
ceremonial flogging. The torment of burning alive, 
practiced in earlier times by the alleged only and true 
church of the pure and inoffensive Christ, had been 
abolished. 

This was the last auio de fe held, as the inquisition 
had no further opportunity to exercise its power in 
Mexico. It was suppressed in Spain, and became in- 
operative in Mexico May 31, 1820, a short time before 
the overthrow of the Spanish dominion. 

Having been punished by the Church for spiritual 
delinquencies and offenses, Morelos was by decree of 
the state taken to execution on the morning of Decem- 
ber 22, 1815, at San Christobal Kcatepec, where in 
former days the viceroys were received. Here upon his 
knees he uttered the following simple prayer, "L,ord, if 
I have done well thou knowest it; but if ill, to thy in- 
finite mercy I commend my soul." Then he gave the 
signal, and a ball traversed the heart of "the servant of 
the nation." 

The portrait of Morelos adorns the national gal- 
leries, and it is also found in many private collections 
in the houses of patriotic citizens of Mexico, and his 
statue is erected in many public places. His memory 
is cherished as one of the bravest, purest and most suc- 
cessful patriots who upheld and suffered martyrdom for 
reform in political and spiritual methods in Mexico. 

Though disowned, condemned and punished by 
the Church, he was a religious enthusiast, always con- 
fessing himself before and after battle, and maintaining 
his religious life in field and camp. 

After the capture of Morelos the cause of the revolu. 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ, 73 

tion languished; for though it was svipported in many- 
parts of the country by leaders of courage and talent, 
yet no one possessed sufficient influence to combine the 
operations of the whole and prevent the jarring interests 
of the different leaders from discord. 

I The principal insurgent leaders were Teran, Guer- 
rero, Rayon, Torres, Bravo and Victoria. 
I Teran remained mostly in the province of Puebla, 
where, after having disbanded congress, which had 
taken refuge in his jurisdiction, he for some time carried 
on a desultory warfare in which he had varying success, 
though straitened greatly for want of arms. He was 
finally compelled to surrender, on the 21st of January, 
18 1 7. His life having been secured by the terms of 
capitulation, he lived in obscurity in Puebla until the 
breaking out of the second revolution in 1S21. 

Guerrero occupied the western coast, where he 
maintained the revolutionary cause in the mountainous 
districts until 1821, when he joined Iturbide. 

Rayon commanded in the northern part of Valla- 
dolid. His principal stronghold was besieged by Itur- 
bide in January, 18 15, and an attack on his works was 
repelled on the 4th of March following. But finally, 
during his absence, the fortress surrendered in 18 17; 
and soon after Rayon himself, deserted by all of his 
adherents, was taken prisoner and was confined in the 
capital until the change of sentiment in 1821. 

The Padre Torres, vindictive, sanguinary and 
treacherous by nature, had established a sort of halt- 
priestly, half- military despotism in the Baxio, a very 
fertile region taking in parts of the states of Queretaro, 
Michoacan, Guanajuato and Guadalajara, the whole of 
which he had parcelled out among his military sub- 



74 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

alterns, men mostly without principle or virtue. From 
his fortress on the top of the mountain Los Remedios, 
he was the scourge of the country round, devastating 
the most fertile portion of the Mexican territory, and 
sparing none, whether Spaniard or creole, who had the 
misfortune to offend him. Yet, under the auspices of 
this man existed for the time the only shadow of, a gov- 
ernment that was kept up by the revolutionists. It was 
called the junta of Jauaxiila, but it possessed little 
authority beyond his immediate adherents. 

Bravo was a wanderer in different parts of the 
country, opposed by superior royalist forces until De- 
cember, 1817, when he was taken prisoner and sent to 
the capital. 

Victoria, at the head of about 2,000 men, occupied 
the important province of Vera Cruz, where he was a 
constant source of uneasiness to the viceroy, who at 
length formed a plan of establishing a chain of fortified 
posts sufficiently strong to command the communica- 
tion between Vera Cruz and the capital and restrain the 
incursions of the insurgents. 

During a struggle of two years against all the 
powers of the viceroy and several thousand regular 
troops sent out from Spain to quell this last and most 
formidable of the insurgent chiefs, Victoria was gradu- 
ally driven from his strongholds. Most of his old sol- 
diers fell; the zeal of the people in the cause of the 
revolution abated; the last remnant of his followers 
deserted him when, unsubdued in spirit, he was left 
actually alone. Resolved not to yield on any terms to 
the Spaniards, he refused the rank and rewards which 
the viceroy offered him as the price of his submission: 
and, unaccompanied by a single attendant, sought an 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 75 

asylum in the mountains and disappeared from view. 

During a few weeks he was supplied with provisions 
by the Indians, who knew and respected him; but the 
viceroy, fearing that he would again emerge from his 
retreat, sent out a thousand men to hunt him down. 
Every village that had harbored him was burned with- 
out mercy, and the Indians were struck with such 
terror by this merciless punishment, that they either 
fled at his appearance or closed their doors against him. 
For upwards of six months he was pursued like a wild 
beast, often surrounded, and on numerous occasions 
barely escaping with his life. At length it was an- 
nounced that his dead body had been found, and the 
search was discontinued. 

But the trials of Victoria did not end here. At one 
time he was attacked by a fever and remained eleven 
days at the mouth of a cavern, stretched on the ground, 
without food, expecting the hour of death. The vul- 
tures hovered around in expectation of their prey. One 
approached to feast on his half-closed eyes. He seized 
it by the neck and killed it. Nourished by its warm 
blood he had strength to crawl to water and slake his 
parching thirst. With torn clothes and lacerated body 
he was reduced to a skeleton. In summer he subsisted 
on roots, fruits and berries, and in winter on whatever 
he could obtain. For thirty months he neither saw a 
human being nor tasted bread. 

Thus nearly three years passed 'from the time of his 
exile in 18 iS. The last who had lingered with him 
were two faithful Indians. As he was about to separate 
from tlicni they asked where he wished them to look for 
him if any change in the politics of the country should 
take place. Pointing in reply to a mountain at some 



76 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

distance, particularly rugged and covered with, forests, 
he told them that on that mountain perhaps they might 
find his bones. 

The Indians kept this in mind, and as soon as the 
first news of the revolution of 1821 came to them they 
set out in quest of Victoria. After six weeks of search- 
ing they found footprints of a white man and watched 
around for some days, until their stock of provisions 
was exhausted, when suspending two corncakes on a 
tree, believing that Victoria would pass, and seeing 
them would know that friends were seeking hird, they 
returned to their homes for more food, intending to 
return. 

Their plan succeeded, for Victoria came to the place 
two days afterwards and found the cakes which, fortu- 
nately, the birds had not devoured. He had been four 
days without food, and he ate the cakes before the crav- 
ings of his appetite would permit him to reflect upon the 
singularity of finding them in that solitary spot, where 
he had never seen the trace of a human being. Not 
knowing whether they had been left there by friend or 
foe, but confident that whoever had left them intended 
to return, he concealed himself near the place in order 
to watch for his unknown visitor. 

One of the Indians soon returned and Victoria, 
recognizing him, started from his concealment to wel- 
come his faithful follower who, terrified at seeing a 
man haggard, emaciated and clothed only with an old 
cotton wrapper, advancing upon him from the bushes 
with a sword in his hand, took to flight; and it was only 
on hearing his name repeatedly called that he recovered 
his composure sufficiently to recognize his old general. 
He was deeply affected at the state in which he found 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 77 

him and conducted him instantly to his village, where 
the long lost Victoria was received with the greatest joy 
and enthusiasm. 

The report of his reappearance spread rapidly 
through the province, where it was not credited at first, 
so firmly was every one persuaded of his death; but 
when it was known that Guadalupe Victoria was indeed 
living, all the old insurgents rallied round him. 

A further account of this patriot will be found in 
connection with later events in Mexican historj^, in 
which he was destined to be a prominent actor, as well 
as a high and influential officer and statesman. 

About the time of the dispersal of the principal in- 
surgent forces in 18 17, and when the revolutionary 
spirit was on the decline, an unfortunate and unwise, 
but very daring attempt was made by Don Xavier Mina 
to establish the independence of Mexico on a constitu- 
tional basis and secure the liberty of Mexico without a 
separation from Spain. This visionary plan failed to 
awaken enthusiasm among the people, and chiefly 
claims attention from the military movements and 
achievements contiected therewith. 

Mina was a young Spaniard who had been engaged 
iu guerrilla warfare in Spain, operating first against the 
French who had displaced the royal family from the 
Spanish throne, and then against the forces of Ferdi- 
nand VII. who, on attaining the throne by the consent 
of Napoleon and the aid of the English troops, set aside 
the constitution which had been constructed by the 
Cortes and adopted in 1812. Mina, being defeated in 
Spain, determined to transfer the war against Ferdinand 
to the soil of Mexico, 

After securing munitions of war in lyondoii and re- 



78 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

cruits in the United States, he landed at Soto la Marina, 
about 125 miles north of Tampico. Here he constructed 
a fort as a basis of operations, and after leaving a garri 
son moved with the remainder of his troops rapidly 
toward the Baxio, where Torres was located. On the 
way he fought superior numbers of the enemy in many 
battles and with varying results, and finally reached 
Guanajuato, where his forces failed him by an unusual 
display of fear. He attempted retreat, but was captured; 
and in view of Torres, in his stronghold on the hill L,os 
Remedios, was shot. 

After his death dissensions broke out among the 
remaining insurgents, and every town and fortress fell 
into the hands of the royalists. Torres was killed by 
one of his own captains. Guerrero with a small force 
was on the western coast, cut off from all communica- 
tion with the interior; and Victoria, as has been related, 
had sought refuge in the mountains. 

In 1 8 19 the revolutionary cause was at its lowest 
ebb, and it was no idle boast when the viceroy declared, 
in a dispatch transmitted to the government at Madrid, 
that he would answer for the safety of Mexico without 
an additional soldier. 

Thus ended the first revolution in Mexico with the 
total dispersion and defeat of the Independent party, after 
a struggle of nine years from the first outbreak at Dolo- 
res. In the distractions of the war which made ene- 
mies of former friends, the most wanton cruelties were 
often committed by both armies. Hidalgo injured and 
disgraced the cause which he led by appealing to the 
worst passions of his Indian forces, whose ferocity 
appeared the more extraordinary after having lain 
dormant so many years. But the Spaniards were not 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 79 

backward in retaliating upon their enemies, and Calleja, 
the Spanish commander, eclipsed Hidalgo as much in 
the details of cold-blooded massacre as in the military 
art. Morelos was no less generous than brave, and 
with his fall terminated the most brilliant period of the 
revolution. 

The viceroy, Apodaca, who succeeded Calleja, 
adopted a conciliatory policy and judiciously distributed 
pardons from the king, whereby he reduced the insur- 
gents to an insignificant number. 

The revolution was from the first opposed by the 
higher orders of the clergy, who were by an encyclical 
letter from the Vatican directed to oppose all attempts 
to secure the separation of Mexico from Spain. The 
most opulent Creoles, whose business and religion were 
intimately connected with those of Spain and whom the 
viceroy conciliated, gave the government its principal 
support during the war. 

But though the country was exhausted by the 
ravages of war, and though open hostilities were quelled, 
subsequent events showed that the spirit of independ- 
ence was daily gaining ground and that Spain had 
entirely lost all those moral influences by which she had 
so long governed her colonies in the New World. 



" 



CHAPTER VI. ; 

1821 TO 1823. 

Bonaparte Benkfits Mexico — Church Conspiracy 
— Iturbide Selected — Guerrero Joins Con- 
spiracy — Pean op Iguaea — Treaty of Cordoba 
— Mexico Independent of Spain — Regency — 
— Iturbide Emperor — Dissensions — Revolu- 
tion — Abdication — Exile — Return — Death as 
AN Outlaw. 

NAPOIvEON BONAPARTE is entitled to much 
credit for the independence of Mexico. He made 
open war upon the Roman Catholic tenet of the 
divine right of kings. He applied this hostility to 
Spain, where he dethroned Charles IV. and his son, 
Ferdinand VII. In their .stead he enthroned his 
brother Joseph as the king of Spain. In these a'cts he 
not only gratified his personal ambition, but he also, as 
if a world's statesman and patriot, advanced the theory 
of personal liberty and an enlarged bill of rights for 
even those who lived under a constitutional monarchy. 
Under the auspices of the Napoleonic regime, the 
people of Spain constructed a constitution. In this 
work the order of Free Masons took an active part, and 
as the tendency of the organic law thus enacted was to 
limit the power of the Roman Catholic church in 
political affairs, and to vest political power in the people, 
naturally as vindictive an organization as the Church 



FROM C0R7EZ TO DIAZ. 8i 

has shown itself to be would not forget to anathematize 
the Free Masons. 

Regardless, however, of that fact, the character of 
the Spanish government was thus changed from an 
absolute to a constitutional monarchy. By the funda- 
mental law thus enacted, many civil rights were secured 
to the people, among which were liberty of speech and 
of the press and a form of the elective franchise. Many 
wrongs were also redressed, such as the removal of the 
excessive church taxes of the past, the abolishment of 
the inquisition, and the discontinuance of the Roman 
Catholic as the exclusive religion of the countr3\ 

By the aid of Wellington and his British forces the 
French army and administration were removed from 
Spain in 1812 and Ferdinand re-enthroned. Immedi- 
ately on his return to power and that he might gratify 
his clerical supporters and advisers, the newly enthroned 
king abolished the new constitution, restored the in- 
quisition and so far as lay in his power, inaugurated 
reactionary measures as to all reforms established during 
the Napoleonic occupation. 

Spain then became the theater of a long and bloody 
civil war, but in 18 19 Ferdinand, deserted by his own 
troops, saw no safety but in submission to the people. 
He therefore ordered the reassembling of the cortes of 
18 1 2, and in their presence swore to observe the con- 
stitution promulgated by that body. The inquisition 
was again abolished, several religious establishments 
were suppressed and their revenues confiscated to the 
state. 

The constitution and new orders as to the inquisi- 
tion and religious fraternities thus adopted in Spain of 
course had full effect in Mexico. Being liberal and 



82 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

progressive, those measures excited the hostility of the 
clergy and. principal Spaniards who had been such great 
beneficiaries under the old order, and their opposition 
took the form of a resolution "to separate absolutely 
from Spain and its radicalism. ' ' 

Obedient to orders from the Vatican the clergy had 
opposed the revolution of Hidalgo, but it was that the 
interests and revenues of the Church might be the 
better conserved. Now the same interests were im- 
periled. Therefore many of the clergy and disaffected 
Spaniards held secret consultations and perfected a con- 
spiracy having in view primarily the continuance of the 
rights of religious orders and the revenues of the 
Church; and secondarily, the methods whereby the 
people could be induced to co-operate. As a specious 
cry whereby the multitude could be enthused and 
aroused to action, it was declared that with the new 
order their religion was imperiled. 

To make their conspiracy effective it was necessary 
to have a military leader. One in whom they could 
trust, Don Augustin Iturbide, was selected. He was a 
Mestizo, having a Spanish father and a Mexican 
mother, was a soldier of many years' experience in the 
field, having been an officer of the royalist army which 
fought Hidalgo and in command of the army which de- 
feated Morelos at Guadalajara. 

Iturbide had become imbued with liberal ideas in 
the latter years of the revolution and sympathized with 
those who wished the independence of Mexico. He 
had resigned his office in the imperial army and retired 
t-o private life, and was just the man to lead in the new 
conspiracy, as he was a soldier with a brilliant record 
and "out of a job." He was also in financial straits 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 83 

and gladly accepted the proffered leadership, which he 
hoped would bring him both fame and riches. 

To secure an army as well as a leader, the con- 
spirators persuaded the Viceroy Apodaca to appoint 
Iturbide to the command of a force to operate against 
Guerrero, who still had a revolutionary army in the 
south. Iturbide departed from the capital, but with 
very different intentions from those which the viceroy 
supposed him to entertain. To carry out in appearance 
the plans of the viceroy he moved to the south and met 
Guerrero, but was defeated by him. 

Realizing the importance of securing the aid of the 
old revolutionists, Iturbide sought an interview with 
Guerrero and laid before him his plans; the end being 
the independence of Mexico, Guerrero joined and made 
common cause with Iturbide who, then having an army 
of 5,500 men at his command, moved to the little town 
of Iguala, on the road to Acapulco, where on the 24th 
day of February, 1821, he proclaimed his project known 
as the "plan of Iguala," and induced his soldiers to 
take an oath to svipport it. 

This plan had three clauses, called the "three 
guarantees." The first was, that the religion of the 
Mexican nation should be the Roman Catholic Apos- 
tolic, to the exclusion of all others, with all the rights, 
privileges and revenues of the Church unimpaired; the 
second, that the Mexican nation should be a constitu- 
tional monarchy with Ferdinand VII. or one of his 
brothers on the throne; and the third, that all inhabit- 
ants of Mexico, whether vSpaniards, Mexicans, Mestizos, 
Negros or Indians, should be citizens of the new nation, 
to whom all places of profit or preferment should be 
open, the only tests being virtue and merit. To carry 



84 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

these provisions into effect a constitution was to be 
formed by a Mexican congress, members of whicb were 
to be elected by the people. 

Iturbide lost no time in informing the viceroy of his 
work, and in view of the confidence which existed 
mutually, offered him the presidency of the junta to be 
formed to carry out the good work of independence. 
Apodaca refused and immediately issued a proclama- 
tion opposing the movement, warning the people against 
giving aid to the insurgents and offering pardon to all 
who would abandon the revolution. He also con- 
centrated an army a short distance south of the capital 
to defend and defeat. 

His actions not being sufficiently energetic to suit 
other officials he was deposed, and Don Francis Novello, 
a military officer, was placed at the head of the govern- 
ment. But his authority was not generally recognized 
and Iturbide was left to pursue his plans without inter- 
ruption. 

Having the co-operation of Guerirero all the old in- 
surgent chiefs, including the long missing Victoria, 
soon joined and with them whole detachments of the 
old revolutionary forces. The creole troops who had 
not joined in the first now took part in this second 
revolution. The clergy publicly gave countenance and 
support to the movement which they had secretly set on 
foot, and the most distant provinces soon sent in their 
adherence to the cause; and before the end of the month 
of July the whole country recognized the authority of 
Iturbide, with the exception of the capital, in which 
Novello had shut himself up with the European troops. 
Valladolid, Puebla and Queretaro were captured and 
the capital was besieged. Santa Anna now for the first 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 85 

time became prominent as a leader in the revolution 
and commanded a force at Vera Cruz. The whole 
country was in the hands of the Iturbidists. 

Under these conditions there landed at Vera Cruz 
General Juan O'Douoju, the sixty-fourth and last of 
the Spanish viceroys. Iturbide arranged to meet him 
at Cordoba, where he was induced to accept by treaty 
the "Plan of Iguala" as the only means of saving the 
lives and property of the Spaniards, then in Mexico, 
and of establishing the right to the throne in the house 
of Bourbon. B)^ this agreement, called the "treaty of 
Cordoba," the viceroy in the name of the king, his 
master, recognized the independence of Mexico on the 
24th of August and gave up the capital. 

On the 27th day of September, 1821, Iturbide 
arrived at the convent of San Francisco, dismounted 
from his horse, was received by the city council and 
other officers, and the keys of the city were delivered to 
him. At the palace he was received by the viceroy, 
who had preceded him. Then there was a grand re- 
ligious ceremony with all the imposing rites of the 
Roman Catholic church, closing with the Te Denm. 

And so Mexico was liberated at last; and of all that 
immense territory which formed the brightest jewel in 
the crown of Spain, nothing was left but the citadels of 
San Juan de Ulua, Perote and Acapulco, and these soon 
after surrendered. The independence, for which Hi- 
dalgo, Morelos, Victoria, Bravo, and other heroes vainly 
fought during the long period of ten years was thus 
secured in seven months, and without further shedding 
of blood. 

All opposition being ended and the capital occu- 
pied, in accordance with the "Plan of Iguala," a pro- 



86 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

visional junta was selected, the principal duty of which. 
was to provide for calling a convention or congress, 
which should construct a constitution for the monarchy. 
At the same time a regency was named, which should 
govern the country ad interim. 

This regency was composed of Iturbide as presi- 
dent, O'Donoju, Barcena, Yanez and Velasquez de Ivcon. 
O'Donoju died in October, and Antonio Joaquin Perez, 
bishop of Puebla, was appointed in his place. Iturbide, 
to forward the interest by which he had been elevated 
to power, conferred the presidency upon the bishop of 
Puebla, while he assumed command of the army with 
the title of Generalissimo, lord high admiral, and also 
serene highness. To all of these titles was added a 
salary of $120,000 annually. 

While the revolution lasted, his will was the law of 
his followers in everything which tended to promote the 
separation from Spain. But the revolution had settled 
no principle, had established no system; and when .the 
old order had been destroyed and a new one was under 
discussion, the unanimity which had prevailed was at 
an end. 

When the provisional junta was about to prepare a 
plan for assembling a national congress, Iturbide desired 
that the members should be bound by oath to support 
the "Plan of Iguala" in all its parts, before they could 
take their seats in the congress. To this Generals 
Guerrero, Victoria and Bravo with many other original 
insurgents objected, wishing that the people should 
have liberty to adopt by their deputies such a plan of 
government as they should prefer. Iturbide carried his 
point, but the seeds of discontent were sown before the 
session of congress commenced. 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 87 

On the 24tli of February congress assembled, and 
three distinct parties were found among its members: 
the Bourbonists, who wished a constitutional motiarchy, 
with a prince of Bourbon on the throne; the republicans, 
who desired a federal republic; and the Iturbidists, who 
wished a monarchy, with Iturbide on the throne instead 
of a Bourbon. 

It soon became known that the Spanish govern- 
ment had repudiated the treaty of Cordoba, declaring it 
null and void. So the Bourbonists ceased to exist as a 
party; and the struggle for an organic political system 
was thus limited to the Iturbidists and the republicans. 
After a violent controversy, the republicans succeeded 
in carrying by a large majority a plan for the reduction 
of the army. 

The partisans of Iturbide then saw that his in- 
fluence was on the wane, and that if they wished ever to 
see him on the throne, action must be had before the 
memory of his services should be lost. Therefore they 
concerted their measures for inducing the army and the 
populace to declare in his favor. Accordingly, on the 
night of the i8th of May, 1822, the soldiers of the garri- 
son in the Cit}^ of Mexico and a mob assembled before 
the house of Iturbide; and, amidst the brandishing of 
weapons, proclaimed him emperor, under the title of 
Augustin the First. 

Iturbide, with consummate hypocrisy, pretending 
to yield with reluctance to what he termed the "will of 
the people," brought the matter before congress, which, 
overawed by his armed partisans and a mob, gave their 
sanction to a measure which they were powerless to op- 
pose. The choice was ratified by the provinces without 
opposition; and Iturbide found himself in peaceful pos- 



88 HISl'ORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

session of a throne, to which his own abilities and cir- 
cumstances had raised him. 

Had he been guided by counsels of prudence, and 
confined his authority within reasonable limits, he 
might have maintained his imperial office indefinitely; 
but, forgetting the unstable foundation of his throne, he 
began his reign with all the airs of hereditary royalty. 

A struggle for power immediately commenced be- 
tween him and congress. He demanded a veto upon 
each and every article of the constitution then under 
consideration; and the right of appointing and removing 
at pleasure the members of the supreme tribunal of 
justice. 

The breach continually widened and, at length, a 
law proposed by the emperor, for the establishment of 
military tribunals, was rejected by congress. Iturbide 
retaliated by imprisoning the most distinguished mem- 
bers of that body. 

Remonstrances and reclamations followed, and 
Iturbide, at length, terminated the dispute as Cromwell 
and Bonaparte had done on similar occasions before 
him, by proclaiming, on the 30th of October, the disso- 
lution of congress, and substituting in its stead a junta 
of his own appointme'nt, which new assembly acted as 
the ready echo of his will. Yet it never possessed any 
influence, and the popularity of Iturbide did not long 
survive his assumption of arbitrary power. 

Before the end of November an insurrection broke 
out in the northern provinces, but it was speedily 
quelled by the imperial troops. On the 6th of Decem- 
ber the youthful general, Santa Anna, a former sup- 
porter of Iturbide, but who had been dismissed by him 
from the government of Vera Cruz, published an address 



FROM CORl EZ TO DIAZ. 89 

to the nation in which he reproached the emperor with 
having broken his coronation oath by dissolving con- 
gress; and declared his intention and that of the garri- 
son, which had united with him, to aid in the reassem- 
bling of congress and protecting its deliberations. 

Santa Anna was soon joined by Victoria, who had 
never consented to the empire, to whom he yielded the 
chief command, in expectation that his name and well 
kno.vu principles would inspire with confidence those 
ivho favored a republic. A force sent out by the em- 
peror to quell the revolt went over to the insurgents. 
Generals Guerrero and Bravo took the field on the same 
side. Dissatisfaction spread through the nation; part of 
ths imperial army revolted; and Iturbide, either fright- 
ened by the storm which he had conjured up, or really 
anxious to avoid the effusion of blood, called together 
all the members of the old congress then in the capital, 
and on the 19th of March, 1S23, formally resigned the 
imperial crown, stating his intention to leave the 
countr}', lest his presence in Mexico should be the pre- 
text for further dissensions. 

Congress, after declaring that his assumption of the 
crown was an act of violence and therefore null, will- 
ingly allowed him to leave the kingdom; and in view of 
the valuable services he had rendered the country, 
granted him an annual pension of $25,000, on condition 
that he make his domicile in Ital3^ With his family 
and suite he embarked for Leghorn on the nth of Ma}-,' 
Thus terminated the first Mexican empire. 

The fate of this ambitious and weak, though patri- 
otic, man whose previous career had been so brilliant and 
successful was indeed sad. His personal magnetism and 
the memory of benefits bestowed, together with hopes of 



90 



HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 



possible future preferment, in case his star should be 
again in the ascendant, had made for him many friends 
who remained behind, and with whom he maintained 
correspondence and thereby was kept informed of the 
^'icissitudes of Mexican political affairs. 




ITURBIBE. 



Misled by representations as to the strength of the 
monarchical party, and knowing that the government 
which succeeded him was unstable, he yielded to his in- 
clinations to regain his throne, and left Italy for I^on- 
don. From that place he sent warnings to the Mexican 
government of the schemes of the holy alliance, to re- 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. ~ 91 

store Spanish rule in Mexico: and offered his services to 
the country to aid in resisting the movement. When 
congress had knowlege that he had left Italy and was 
contemplating a return, it passed ?a\ act of outlawry 
upon him, and pronounced sentence of death to be en- 
forced if he should return to Mexico. 

On the 14th of July he suddenly appeared in Soto 
la Marina. The Mexican commander in the state of 
Tamaulipas, in which that seaport is situated, in- 
vited him to land; and then informed him that, in ac- 
cordance with a decree of congress, he had but a few 
hours to live. The legislature of the state in special 
session discussed the propriety of enforcing the cruel 
sentence, and finally decided that the execution should 
take place. Five days afterward lie met his fate as a 
brave soldier in front of the Church at Padilla. A file 
of soldiers by a single discharge executed the congress- 
ional decree. 

His remains, after being buried in the Church at 
Padilla, were, in 1838, removed to the cathed.al in the 
City of Mexico and placed in the chapel of San Felipe 
de Jesus. Upon the sarcophagus enclosing his remains 
is inscribed the word "Liberator." 

Notwithstanding his fatal ambition, the patriot who 
visits his tomb can scarcely restrain a tear at the sad 
fate which thus terminated the life of a "Washington." 



CHAPTER VII. 



1823 TO 1S31. 

Mkxico a Republic — The Constitution — Roman 
Catholic the Exclusive Religion — Political 
Parties — Republicanism — Centralism — Victo- 
ria President — Church Revolts — Montano 
Revolts — Both Suppressed — Pedraza Elected 
— Resigns — Santa Anna Revolts — Lawless- 
ness — Guerrero President — Spanish Invasion 
— Bustamente President — Overthrow and 
Death of Guerrero. 

ON The departure of Iturbide from Mexico an ex- 
ecutive junta was appointed which should ad- 
minister the government until the meeting of a 
new congress. This junta consisted of Generals Victo- 
ria, Bravo, Negrete and Guerrero, all distinguished 
soldiers of the revolution. 

Congress assembled on the 23d of August, 1823, 
and entered at once upon the work of formulating a 
constitution. On the 31st of January, 1824, the organic 
law thus prepared was submitted, and on the 4th of 
October following it was duly adopted. 

This instrument was modeled after the constitution 
of the United States. The absolute independence of 
the country was declared and the several provinces were 
united into a federal republic as "The United Mexican 
States. ' ' The legislative power was vested in a con- 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 



93 



gress consisting of a senate and house of representatives. 
The senate was to be composed of two senators from 
each state, elected by the legislatures thereof for a term 
of four years. The house of representatives was to be 
composed of members elected by the citizens of the 
several states for a term of two years. 

The president was to be Mexican born, not ICvSS 
than thirtv-five years of age, and was to be elected by 
the legislatures of the states for the term of four years. 
The supreme court was to be composed of eleven judges 
not less than thirty-five years of age respectively, were 
to be Mexican born and elected by the legislatures of 
the states. 

The several states composing the nation were to 
organize their governments in conformity to the federal 
act. Each state was to protect its citizens in the full 
enjoyment of their liberty. No individual was to com- 
mence a suit at law without having previously attempted 
in vain to settle the case by arbitration. Trial by jury 
was not provided for, nor was proper publicity given to 
the processes of the courts in which justice was ad- 
ministered. 

The third article declared "The religion of the 
Mexican nation is and will be perpetually the Roman 
Catholic Apostolic, the nation will protect it by wise and 
just lazes and prohibit the ExercisK of any other 
WHATEVER. ' ' 

The constitution was not adopted without consider- 
able opposition. Among the newly enfranchised citi- 
zens there were very few who had ever held civil office, 
and the majority were entirely unread as to systems 
of government. The policy of keeping the people in 
ignorance of all literature except the catechism and 



94 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

prayers in lyatin, which had obtained in Mexico for 
three centuries, had utterly disqualified them for affairs 
of state; and when suddenly enfranchised and rendered 
eligible . to the high duty of deciding upon a national 
system they were in a condition to be wrongly in- 
fluenced, and to many the possession of liberty meant 
the right of license, libertinism and anarchy. 

From a comparison ot the history of Mexico with 
that of the United States, after whose organic laws and 
policies Mexico patterned, may be taught one of the 
most valuable lessons illustrated by history. Although 
Mexico was settled nearly a century before the United 
States, yet the latter had gone through all the hardships 
and trials of colonial existence, steadily progressed in 
general knowledge and the growth of liberal principles 
had outgrown their vassalage and firmly established 
their independence, while Mexico was still groping in 
spiritual and intellectual darkness without being fnlly 
aware of her slavitude. 

, When the United States declared her independence 
it was the deliberate result of a united and intelligent 
people, smarting under accumulated wrongs, rightly 
appreciating the value of freedom and with prudent 
foresight calmly weighing the cost of obtaining it. 
When once obtained the virtue, intelligence and patriot- 
ism of the people were sufficient to preserve it and to 
guard against all attempts at its subversion. 

In Mexico the first resistance to Spanish tyranny 
was but a sudden and isolated movement of a few in- 
dividuals with no great number fully grasping the 
ulterior object of freedom, and the masses of the igno- 
rant population who joined in the insurrection were in- 
fluenced by no higher motives than those of plunder 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. ' 95 

and revenge. A declaration of independence found the 
people disunited, ignorant of the nature and extent of 
the evils which they were suffering, unaware of their 
own resources and ready to follow blindly wherever 
their chiefs led them. 

When independence was at length established it 
was merely for one despotism to give place to another, 
and a monarchy arose which was but the agent of the 
ecclesiastics and aristocrats to still further usurp the 
liberties of the people. The sudden overthrow of the 
empire of Iturbide made place for another system of 
government which, while republican in form and fair 
and comely in proportions, yet contained one of the 
most odious features of despotism. It contained among 
its provisions the law that the Roman Catholic religion 
should be adopted to the exclusion of any other what- 
ever. 

A principle more illiberal and unrepublican could 
not have been imagined, and where it prevails the idea 
and fact of a free government is an absurdity. Of all 
tyranny that which is exerted over the consciences of 
the superstitious and ignorant is the most baleful in its 
effects. It not only renders its subjects more than will- 
ing slaves and makes them glory in their bondage, but 
it incapacitates them for appreciating or enjoying the 
blessings of liberty when offered them. 

As soon as proper after the independence of Mexico 
had been secured, and while it was yet an empire under 
Iturbide the United States recognized it as an inde- 
pendent nation and sent Mr. Poinsett as minister to the 
new government. 

He remained in the same capacit}^ during the 
changes which resulted in the adoption of a constitu- 



96 'HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

tion making Mexico a republic with a federal repre- 
sentative system. To his opportune aid cheerfully 
given the friends of the republic owed much. By it 
they were enabled to combat successfully all attempts 
to guide the new ship of state into the perilous waters 
of experiment; and she emerged from the' hands of the 
constitutional convention under full sail, flying the 
colors of a republic under a federal representative 
system, directed to her moorings by the hands of loyal 
and patriotic citizens of the new nation, who had fought 
for independence from the first time that the Grita de 
Dolores was sounded on the plains of Mexico or rever- 
berated among the mountains. 

With the independence of Mexico the Bourbonists 
ceased to exist as a separate political party, while the 
fall of Iturbide destroyed the political organization of 
which he was the head and so the Republicans had full 
control of affairs; but they were divided into two fac- 
tions with decidedly distinct policies. One was for 
federalism and the other for centralism. 

In the election which was held under the newly 
adopted constitution, Guadalupe Victoria was the candi- 
date of the federalists, while Nicholas Bravo stood for 
centralism. The canvass of the vote showed that Vic- 
toria had been elected president and Bravo vice presi- 
dent, thus embodying the two antagonistic policies of 
the party in the first administration of the republic. 
The president and vice president were both inaugurated 
on the 4th of October, 1824, for the official term of four 
years. 

The administration of Victoria commenced under 
the most happy and promising auspices. The republic 
had been established in peace; partisan excitement had 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. ' 97 

been allayed; no one questioned the authority of the 
president, and a loan negotiated in England had pro- 
vided funds for the treasury of the nation. 

Notwithstanding all these very promising con- 
ditions there soon appeared signs of commotion. During 
the year 1825 certain political clubs were formed under 
the name and with the formulas of Free Masonry. 
Some were organized under the alleged guidance of the 
United States minister, Poinsett, and were known as 
Yorkinos. These became the nuclus of the federalists, 
and in that party the Iturbidists and Democrats gener- 
ally found a political home. Others were organized 
under the Scottish rites and were called escoces, and 
represented centralism; and all Bourbons, monarchists 
and the clergy here found political affiliations. 

The 5^ears 1825 and 1826 passed with few disturb- 
ances and the administration of Victoria was generally 
popular, and the country enjoyed a greater degree of 
prosperity than at any former period. But the con- 
stituent elements which formed the nation were so 
various, so uncongenial and so antagonistic that con- 
tinued peace could hardly be expected. 

The first attempt at revolution came from the 
Church, was headed by a dominican friar named Padre 
Arenas, and was designed to restore Spanish rule. 
This was suppressed, its leaders properly punished 
and rigorous measures adopted to expel all Spaniards 
from the country. 

The second attempted revolution was headed by 

Montano, an unknown lieutenant colonel, at Otumba. 

On the 23d of December, 1827, he proclaimed a plan for 

the forcible reform of the government. He demanded 

the abolition of all secret societies, the dismissal of the 
7 — 



98 HIS'IORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

cabinet ministers, who were charged with being deficient 
in probity, virtue and merit; the dismissal of Mr. Poin- 
sett, who was held to be the chief director of the 
Yorkinos, and a more rigorous enforcement of the con- 
stitution and existing laws. 

The plan of Montano was immediately declared by 
the Yorkinos to have for its object "to prevent the 
banishment of the Spaniards, to avert the chastisement 
then impending over the conspirators against independ- 
ence, to destroy Republican institutions and place the 
country once more under the yoke of a Bourbon!" 

General Bravo, the vice president and the leader of 
the Scotch party, who had heretofore been the advocate 
of law and order, left the capital, made common cause 
with the insurgents and issued a manifesto in favor of 
Montano, in which he denounced the president himself 
as connected with the Yorkinos. 

By this rash movement of Bravo's the president was 
compelled to throw himself into the arms of the Yorki- 
nos, to whose chief. General Guerrero, he gave the 
command of the government troops that were sent to 
put down the insurrection. The outbreak was speedily 
suppressed. General Bravo, who was really at the head 
of the movement, which was for political effect, would 
not allow a conflict at arms; and, on the approach of 
Guerrero, surrendered. He and the principal leaders 
were banished the country by a decree of congress, 
but afterward they were permitted to return to their 
homes. 

The leaders of the Scotch party being removed, it 
was thought that in the ensuing presidential election, 
•September, 1828, the success of General Guerrero, the 
Yorkino candidate, was rendered certain. But unex- 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 99 

pectedly a new candidate was brought forward in the 
person of General Pedraza. who was Victoria's' minister 
of war. He, after an arduous contest, was elected presi- 
dent by a majority of only two votes over General 
Guerrero. 

The successful party, relying upon their constitu- 
tional rights and the sympathies of the friends of Vic- 
toria, looked forward to a peaceful administration to 
follow the election. But the opposition was unwilling 
to bow submissively to the will of the people expressed 
in accord with the constitution. They asserted that the 
election had been carried b}^ fraud and bribery, that 
Pedraza was the enemy of the liberties of the country, 
and they declared their determination to redress by an 
appeal to arms the injustice sustained by General Guer- 
rero, upon whose elevation to the presidency the as- 
cendency of the Yorkino party naturally depended. 

At this juncture Santa Anna, whose name had 
figured in the most turbulent periods of the revolution 
since 1821, again appeared upon the political stage; 
claiming that the result of the election did not show the 
real will of the people, he at the head of 500 men took 
possession of the castle of Perote. There on September 
loth he published an address declaring that the election 
of Pedraza had been procured by fraud, and that he had 
taken it upon himself to rectify the error by proclaiming 
Guerrero president, as the only effectual mode of main- 
taining the character and asserting the dignity of the 
Mexican nation. 

On September 17th President Victoria issued a proc- 
lamation, calling on the states and the people co aid in 
arresting the traitor to the laws and the constitution. 
Santa Anna was besieged at Perote, an action was 



loo HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

fought under the walls of the castle. Santa Anna 
escaped, was pursued and captured on the 14th of De- 
cember. But before that time, changes of public senti- 
ment had taken place at the capital: and the captive 
general in the course of twenty-four hours took com- 




VICTORIA. 



iiiand of the very army by which he had been taken 
prisoner. 

About the time of the flight of Santa Anna from 
Perote the capital became the rallying place for a num- 
ber of the more ultra of the Yorkino chiefs and ambi- 
tious and adventurous insurrectionists. On the night of 



FROM CORTRZ TO DTAZ. loi 

November 30th an armed mob seized the barracks" guns 
and ammunition, and began a reign of terror, wherein 
law and order was defied and millions of dollars worth 
of property was taken by pillage and violence. While 
thus despoiling citizens indiscriminately the mob made 
demands for the banishment of all Spanish residents, 
and at the same time they proclaimed that Guerrero 
had been elected president, and that he should take his 
office. 

Victoria was unable to restore order, and in the ab- 
sence of energetic action he was charged by many wnth 
being in sympathy with the insurrection. These lawless 
acts remained unchecked for two days, when order was 
restored by Guerrero himself, whom Victoria appointed 
minister of war in place of Pedraza, who had fled from 
the capital. 

To avoid civil war and the effusion of blood Ped- 
raza, disregarding the proffered assistance of his adher- 
ents, formally resigned .the presidency and obtained 
permission to quit the territories of the republic. Con- 
gress, which met on the ist of January, 1829, declared 
Guerrero to be duly elected president, having next to 
Pedraza the highest number of votes. General Busta- 
mente, a distinguished Yorkino leader, was made vice- 
president; a Yorkino ministry was appointed; and Santa 
Anna, who was declared to have deserved well of his 
country, was appointed minister of war. 

As Guerrero had been installed by arms, it was 
natural that he should trust to the same agency for a 
continuance of power. But the ease with which a revo- 
lution could be effected and the supreme authority over- 
thrown by a bold and daring leader had been demon- 
strated too fatally for the future peace of the country-. 



102 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

and ambitious chiefs were not long wanting to take ad- 
vantage thereof. 

The Spaniards had rendered themselves obnoxious 
to the people who had control in Mexico by their hostil- 
ity to the new order of things. So congress decreed in. 
March, 1829, that they should be expelled from the 
country, and in compliance therewith many were de- 
ported. To retaliate for this action and to regain the 
lost province in America, a squadron of Spanish troops 
was sent from Havana; and in July, 1829, about 4,000 
men landed at Tampico and captured that city. 

To meet the emergencies of the times Guerrero was 
invested with dictatorial powers. After a campaign of 
two months the invading army surrendered to Santa 
Anna. Though the danger was past Guerrero did not 
surrender his extraordinary powers, and his enemies as- 
sumed that he had the intention to prolong his dictator- 
ship indefinitely. 

Bustamente, the vice-president, then in command 
of a body of troops, held in reserve to repel the Span- 
iards, deemed this a favorable opportunity for striking a 
blow for supremacy. Charging Guerrero with the de- 
sire of assuming arbitrary power and demanding con- 
cessions, he proceeded toward the capital for the avowed 
purpose of correcting executive abuses. Santa Anna, 
the minister of war, at first feebly opposed Bustamente, 
but at length joined him. The government was easily 
overthrown. Guerrero fled to the mountains in the 
south, and Bustamente w^as proclaimed his successor. 

Guerrero had the misfortune to have been of very 
low and humble parentage. His father was of a race; 
then denominated castes, who was entitled to neither 
civil nor political rights. But in the war of independ-" 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ, 103 

ence Guerrero had riseu to prominence and liigli rank, 
and in conjunction with Iturbide had secured the inde- 
pendence of Mexico. He was one of the four entrusted 
with the government when Iturbide resigned the impe- 
rial crown, and had held high rank and responsible 
command in the armj^ of the republic. In each and all 
of these positions he had acquitted himself with honor; 
and as president had firmly sustained the principles of 
liberty. 

But his humble origin secured opposition from the 
Spaniards and wealthy Creoles, while his republicanism 
assured the hatred of the clergy. In Bustamente these 
opposing elements found a willing ally, and congress 
was influenced to co-operate in deposing the president. 
But the question was, what to do. They had no power 
to declare his election illegal, for that would affect also 
the right of the vice-president. So congress declared 
that Guerrero was morally incapacitated for the high 
duties of the office, on its own motion deposed him 
therefrom, and elevated the vice-president, Bustamente. 

The leading features of Bustamente's administra- 
tion, which was sanguinary and proscrlptive, was the 
subversion of the federal constitution and the establish- 
ment of a strong central government. He was supported 
by the military, the priesthood and the great creole pro- 
prietors, while the federation was popular with a ma- 
jority of the people, and was sustained by their votes. 

Guerrero retired to his farm in the mountains of the 
south, glad to be relieved of the cares, excitements and 
hazards of his office. But he was popular with the peo- 
ple, who were pronounced in their denunciation of the 
outrage perpetrated upon him, and traced the hostility 
to his administration to the aristocrats and the clergy. 



ro4 



HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 



Fearing the results of a proposed revolution in behalf of 
Guerrero the administration pardoned six criminals, 
laying upon them the duty of assassinating the deposed 
president as the condition of their release. This new 
danger soon became known to Guerrero, and he sought 
safety in the solitudes of the mountains. 




GUERRERO. 



In the spring of 1830 Don Jose Codallos published 
a "plan," demanding of Bustamente the restoration of 
civil authority. Encouraged by this demonstration 
Guerrero appeared in the field, established his govern- 
ment at Valladolid; and the whole country was again in 



FROJr CORIEZ TO DIAZ. :o5 

arms. The attempt of Guerrero to regain supreme 
power was unsuccessful. He was pursued to Acapulco 
and there, while being entertained at a comiDlimentary 
dinner on board a Sardinian ship, he was arrested, the 
captain of the vessel traitorousl}^ performing his part of 
the capture for the consideration of $70,000, paid by the 
centralists. After capture Guerrero was hurriedly taken 
to Oaxaca, tried b}- a court martial, condemned to death 
for "traitoroush' bearing arms against the govern- 
ment;" and on the 14th of February, 1831, he was exe- 
cuted by being shot; meeting his fate with courage and 
dignity. 

Thus a singular coincidence is presented in the fate 
of Guerrero and Iturbide. Though they differed essen- 
tially in their motives originally, thej^ finally joined in 
the campaign which resulted in the libert}' of Mexico. 
But both perished at the hands of the very government 
whose existence the}^ had made possible. The remains 
of Guerrero now rest in the Panteon de San Fernando 
in the capital; and his honored statue of bronze adorns 
the plaza of San Fernando, as a testimony that the 
Mexican people gratefully cherish the memory of that 
true patriot and friend of their liberties, and as a stand- 
ing censure upon the bloody traitors from the clerical 
centralist party who put him to death. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



1 83 1 TO 1844. 

Santa Anna Revolts — Bustamknte; Resigns — Pkd- 
RAZA President — Santa Anna President — 
DicTATORiAi, Schemes — Gomez Farias Acting 
President — Church and Army I^imited — Santa 
Anna Joins Centralists — Proclaimed Dictator 
— Overthrows State Governments and the 
Constitution — Texas Revolts — Santa Anna 
Defeated and Captured by the Texans — Inde- 
pendence AND I^imits op Texas — Santa Anna 
IN Private Life — Bustamente President — 
Santa Anna Fights the French — Revolutions 
— Bustamente Overthrown — Plans — ^Juntas — 
Bases — Santa Anna Again in Politics. 

AFTER the execution of Guerrero tranquility pre- 
vailed in political affairs until January, 1832, 
when Santa Anna, pretending alarm at the arbi- 
trary measures of Bustamente, placed himself at the 
head of the garrison of Vera Cruz and demanded the 
reorganization of the ministry as a pretext for revolt. 
He then declared himself in favor of the restoration of 
the constitution and the enforcement of the laws. The 
friends of liberty and of the Democratic federal system 
rallied to his support. Bustamente in person took the 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 107 

field in command of the army operating against the in- 
surgents, and after a struggle which lasted nearly a 
year, proposed an armistice to Santa Anna. 

This was accepted, and in the conference which re- 
sulted it was agreed that Bustamente should resign in 
favor of Pedraza, who had been elected in 1828; that 
hostilities should cease and that the armies of both 
factions should unite in support of the president and of 
the federal constitution in its original form a*ud design. 

Santa Anna dispatched a vessel for the exiled 
Pedraza, brought him back to the republic and sent him 
to the capital to serve out the remaining three months 
of his unexpired term, he being installed December 
26, 1832. 

In the meantime and while Bustamente was in the 
field the presidential office was occupied by General 
Melchor Muzquiz, who was appointed thereto by 
congress. 

Upon his accession to power Pedraza delivered to 
congress an elaborate address reviewing the events of 
the preceding four j^ears and passing an extravagant 
eulogium upon Santa Anna, his early foe but recent 
friend, and referred to him as his destined successor. 

In the election which followed Santa Anna was 
chosen president and Gomez Farias vice president. On 
the 15th of May the new president entered the capital, 
and on the following day assumed the duties of his 
ofiice. On the first day of June General Duran pro- 
mulgated a plan at San Augustin, twelve miles south of 
the capital, in favor of the Church and the army, at the 
same time proclaiming Santa Anna supreme dictator of 
the Mexican nation. 

Although it was believed that the president had 



io8 HIST OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

secretly instigated this movement, yet he raised a large 
force, appointed Arista his second in command and left 
the capital with the avowed intention of suppressing the 
revolt. The troops had not proceeded far when Arista 
suddenly declared in favor of the plan of Duran, at the 
same time securing the president's person and proclaim- 
ing him dictator. When the news of this movement 
reached the military in the capital they announced 
themselves in its favor with shouts of "Santa Anna for 
dictator?" 

The vice president distrusting the sincerity of Santa 
Anna, and believing that he was employing a stratagem 
to test the probability of success in his ulterior aim at 
absolute power, rallied the federalists against the 
soldiery and defeated the ingenious scheme of the 
president and his allies. Affecting to make his escape 
Santa Anna returned to the city, and having raised 
another force pursued the insurgents, whom he com- 
pelled to surrender. Arista^was pardoned, Duran ban- 
ished, and the victorious president returned to the 
capital, where he was hailed as the champion of the 
federal constitution and the father of his country. 

Soon after Santa Anna retired to his estate in the 
country and the executive authority devolved upon 
Farias, the vice president. This distinguished patriot 
of Mexico deserves special mention, and the following 
is taken from the "Historia de Mexico," by the History 
Co., San Francisco, California, as a partial testimony 
of his work and worth: 

"Gomez Farias, the champion of reform in Mexico, 
was born in Guadalajara, where he received his diploma 
in medicine and afterwards had considerable patronage 
and soon was in good circumstances. Democratic to 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 109 

the heart he was always the champion of progress. He 
cared little or nothing for riches or honor, but was 
always anxions to serve his country without any com- 
pensation but the good opinion of the people. 

"His period was of short duration, though rough 
and perilous, and in it many events occurred of the 
greatest importance. The privileged classes received 
many rude blows from the hand of Farias, who always 
claimed that the civil authority should be above the 
military-. He tried to abolish the right and habit of cn3 
ecclesiastics to interfere in secular affairs. 

"When left to bear the burden of state at such trying 
times, he commenced the work of reform in a university 
of which he was the principal, by excluding the clergy 
from teachijig therein; and he extended the same rule 
to all educational institutions which had support from 
the government. He abolished the sj^stem of taxes 
levied for the support of church-schools and other eccle- 
siastical institutions, and restrained the courts from 
enforcing by civil law the binding force of monastic 
vows, and thus left members of religious orders free to 
abandon their institutions. 

"He also expelled refugee monks who had flocked 
to Mexico on their expulsion from Central America and 
Guatamala. These measures of reform in which two of 
the most powerful classes of society were affected, pro- 
duced great agitation. The importance of the issues 
alarmed the clergy, who immediately took the defensive, 
fomented their pronunciamientos, intrigued with the 
functionaries and with the ignorant populace." 

The clergy and the army being thus interested in 
opposing Farias, signs of revolution appeared in different 
parts of the country, and the friends of Farias charge 



no HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

that he was too timid to meet the revolution, that he 
should have convened congress and organized a national 
guard, but he failed to take any action. 

Santa Anna, who had been closely watching events, 
deemed the occasion favorable to the success of his 
ambitious schemes, returned to the capital, resumed his 
duties as chief executive; and, having been proclaimed 
dictator by the army, he deserted the federal Republican 
party and system, espoused the cause and assumed the 
direction of his former antagonists, the centralists. On 
the 13th day of May, 1834, the constitutional congress 
and the council of government were dissolved by a 
military order of the president and a new revolutionary 
and unconstitutional congress was summoned by another 
military order. Until the new congress assembled the 
authority of the entire government remained in the 
hands of Santa Anna, who covertly used his power and 
influence to destroy the constitution he had sworn to 
defend. 

The states of the federation were more or less agi- 
tated by these arbitrary proceedings. When the new 
congress assembled in January, 1835, petitions and 
declarations in favor of a central government were 
poured in by the military and the clergy, while protests 
and remonstrances on behalf of the federal constitution 
were presented by some of the state legislatures and the 
people. The latter were disregarded and their sup- 
porters persecuted and imprisoned, while the former 
were received as the voice of the nation and a corrupt, 
aristocratic congress acted accordingly. 

The vice president, Gomez Farias, was deposed 
without impeachment or trial and General Barragan, a 
leading centralist, was appointed in his place. 



I<ROM C OR TEZ TO DIAZ. 1 1 1 

One of the first acts of cc ngress was a decree for re- 
ducing and disarming the militia of the several states. 
The opinion that congress had the power to change the 
constitution at pleasure was openly avowed, and every 
step taken evinced a settled purpose to establish a 
strong central government on the ruins of the federal 
system. The state of Zacatecas refused to disband its 
militia and resorted to arms to resist the overthrow of 
tederalism. 

Santa Anna marched against the insurgents in May, 
and after an engagement of two hours defeated them at 
Guadalupe. The city of Zacatecas soon surrendered 
and all resistance in the state was overcome. A few 
days after the fall of Zacatecas, the "Plan of Toluca" 
was published, changing the federal system into a 
central government, abolishing the legislatures of the 
states and changing the states into departments under 
control of military commandants who were to be re- 
sponsible to the chief authorities of the nation — the 
latter to be concentrated in the hands of one individual 
whose will was law. 

This "plan," generally supposed to have originated 
with Santa Anna himself, was adopted by congress, and 
on the 3d of October following, General Barragan, the 
acting president, issued a decree in the name of con- 
gress abolishing the federal system and establishing a 
"Central Republic." This form of government was 
formally adopted in 1833 by a convention of delegates 
appointed for that purpose. 

Several of the Mexican states protested against this 
assumption of power on the part of congress, and 
avowed their determination to take up arms against the 
ecclesiastical and militarydespotism, which was despoil- 



112 HIS7 OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

ing them of their rights as free-men, and to reestablish 
the constitution of 1S24. They were all, however, with 
the exception of Texas, speedily reduced by the arms of 
Santa Anna, who exercised the dual office of president 
and commander of the army, leaving the vice-president 
nominally in the executive chair. 

Texas destitute of numerical strength , regular troops 
and pecuniary resources, was left to contend single- 
handed and alone for her guaranteed rights against the 
whole power of the general government, wielded by a 
man who hitherto had had uninterrupted military success, 
and who delighted in styling himself "the Napoleon of 
the west. ' ' 

The Texans had been uniformly successful in 
several skirmishes in the fall of 1835, and had captured 
San Antonio from general Cos, who with his army had 
capitulated and surrendered the famous Alamo. The 
citizens of Texas had also assembled in convention at 
San Felipe and had published a manifesto, in which 
they declared themselves not bound to support the ex- 
isting government of Mexico, and proffered their assist- 
ance to such states of the Mexican confedracy as would 
take up arms in defense and support of their rights as 
guaranteed by the constitution of 1824. 

Santa Anna alarmed by these acts of resistance to 
his authority, and astonished at the military spirit ex- 
hibited by the Texans, resolved to strike a decisive 
blow against that rebellious province. Therefore he set 
out on the ist of February, 1836, from Saltillo for the 
Rio Grande, where an army of 8,000 men, composed of 
the best troops of Mexico, was assembling for the inva- 
sion of Texas. On the 12th he reached the Rio Grande, 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ, 113 

and on the 23d arrived at San Antonio de Bexar, where 
his whole army was concentrated. 

San Antonio was held by a small garrison of 
Texans, who were soon defeated and the garrison put to 
the sword. Desperate encounters followed in various 
places, but the vast superiority of the invading army 
gave the victory to Santa Anna, who disgraced his name 
by the remorseless cruelties of which he was guilty. 

His hopes of conquest, however, were in the end 
disappointed; for as he was about to withdraw his 
armies in the belief that the province was subdued he 
met with an unexpected and humiliating defeat. He 
had already advanced to the San Jacinto, a stream which 
enters the head of Galveston bay, when on the 21st of 
April, 1836, he was attacked in camp, where he was in 
command of more than 1,600 men, by a Texan force of 
only 783 men, commanded by General Houston. Al- 
though Santa Anna was prepared for the attack, so 
vigorous was the onset that in twenty minutes the camp 
was carried. 630 of the Mexicans were killed, more 
than 200 were wounded, and 730 taken prisoners. 
Among the latter was Santa Anna himself. Of the 
Texans only eight were killed and seventeen wounded. 

Although a majority of the Texas troops demanded 
the execution of Santa Anna, as the murderer of many 
of their countrymen who had been taken prisoners, yet 
his life was spared by the extraordinary firmness of 
General Houston and his officers; and a treaty was con- 
cluded with him by which the entire Mexican force was 
withdrawn from the state of Texas, the independence of 
the state acknowledged, and the boundry fixed as the 
Rio Grande. 

Santa Anna returned to Mexico by way of the 



ii4 HISTOR r OF MEXICAN POL/TICS, 

United States, having been sent to Washington on a di- 
plomatic mission; and being furnished by President 
Jackson with a ship of war he was conveyed to Vera 
Cruz, where he arrived on the 20th of February, 1837, 
ten months after his capture by General Houston. He 
immediately addressed a letter to the minister of war, 
wherein he disavowed all treaties and stipulations. On 
reaching Mexico Santa Anna retired to his hacienda, 
and remained in obscurity for nearly two years. 

On the departure of Santa Anna from the capita} 
for the conquest of Texas, his authority had devolved 
on General Barragan as vice-president, who having died 
in February, 1836, Don Jose Justo Carro was appointed 
in his place, who held the ofl&ce until the 19th of April 
following. 

At the next election Bustamente was chosen presi- 
dent, he having recently returned from France, where 
he had resided since his defeat by Santa Anna in 1832. 
His administration was soon disturbed by declarations 
for Gomez Farias for the presidency and for federation. 
But the disturbances were quelled with little difficult)^. 

In 1838 General Mexia a second time raised the 
standard of revolt against the central government. Ad- 
vancing towards the capital with a brave band of patri- 
ots he was met near Puebla by Santa Anna, who creep- 
ing forth from his retreat to regain popularity by some 
striking exploit, was weakly trusted by Bustamente 
with the command of the government troops. Mexia 
lost the day, was taken prisoner, and with scarcely time 
left for prayer or communication with his family, was 
shot by order of his conquerer on the field of battle. 
"When Santa Anna announced his doom to be death 
within three hours, Mexia said: "You are right. I would 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 115 

not have granted j'^oii one-half the time had I con. 
quered. ' ' 

On March 31st a French fleet appeared on the 
Mexican coast, demanding reparation for damages 
sustained in the plundering of French citizens, and the 
destruction of property by contending factions, and for 
loans collected by violence. The rejection of the demand 
was followed by a blockade; and in the winter following 
the city of Vera Cruz was attacked by French troops. 
An opportunity being offered to Santa Anna to repair 
his tarnished reputation and regain his standing with the 
army, he proceeded to the port, took command of the 
troops; and while following the French when reembark- 
ing one of his legs was shattered by a cannon ball, and 
amputation became necessary. 

In the month of July, 1840, the federalist party, 
headed by General Urrea and Gomez Farias, excited an 
insurrection in the City of Mexico, and seized the presi- 
dent himself. After a conflict of twelve days, in which 
many citizens were killed and much property destroyed, 
a convention of general amnestry was agreed upon by the 
contending parties, and hopes were held out to the 
federalists of another reform in the constitution. 

These expectations not being realized, in August, 
1 84 1, another revolution broke out. It commenced with 
a declaration against the government by Paredes in 
in Guadalajara, and was speedily followed by an upris- 
ing in the capital, and by another in Vera Cruz headed 
by Santa Anna. The capital was bombarded. A month's 
contest in the streets of the city followed, and the revo- 
lution closed with the downfall of Bustamente, who de- 
parted for Europe, leaving the executive oflSce in the 



Ii6 



HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 



hands of Bcheveria, president of the council, or virtual 
vice-president. 

In September a convention of the commanding of- 
ficers was held at Tacubaya, a general amnesty was de- 
clared, and a "plan" was agreed upon by which the 
existing constitution of Mexico was superseded and pro- 




Santa Anna. 



vision made for the calling of a congress in the follow- 
ing year to form a new one. The "Plan of Tacubaya" 
provided for the election in the meantime of a provi- 
sional president, who was to be investad with "all the 
powers necessary to reorganize the nation in all the 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 117 

branches of administration." To the general-in-chief 
of the army was given the power to choose a junta or 
council, which council was to choose the president. 

Santa Anna being at the head of the army selected 
the junta, and the junta returned the compliment by 
selecting him for president. He declared his partiality 
for a firm and central government, but expressed his 
disposition to acquiesce in the decision of that intelli- 
gent body. The proceedings of that body, however, not 
being agreeable to him, he dissolved it in the following 
December, and a junta of notables was convened in its 
place. 

The result of the deliberations of that body was a 
a new constitution, called "The Bases of Political Or- 
ganization of the Mexican Republic, ' ' proclaimed on the 
13th of June, 1843. By this instrument the Mexican 
territory was divided into departments. It was declared 
that a popular representative system was adopted, and 
that the Roman Catholic religion is professed and pro- 
tected to the exclusion of all others. The executive 
power was lodged in the hands of a president, to be 
elected for the term of five years. The president was to 
be assisted by a council, composed of seventeen persons, 
appointed by the president himself, and their tenure of 
office was to be perpetual. The legislative power was 
vested in a congress, consisting of a chamber of deputies 
and a senate. A property qualification was required as 
a prerequisite to the exercise of the elective franchise. 



CHAPTER IX. 



j:844 to 1855. 

Santa Anna Dictator — Revoi^ution — Sx\nta Anna's 
Army — Imprisons State Deputies — Congress 
Dissolved — Resists — Herrera Provisional 
President — Santa Anna Prisoner — Banished 
— Annexation of Texas — War With the 
United States — Many Presidents — Santa 
Anna Recalled and Made President — Battles 
With Americans — Defeat — I^eaves Mexico — 
Other Presidents — Herrera President — 
Arista President — Resigns — Santa Anna Re- 
turns — President Again — Dictator Again — 
Revolutions — Santa Anna I^eaves Mexico — 
Subsequent Career — Death. 

UNDER the new organic system of government, Santa 
Anna was chosen president, or more correctly 
speaking, supreme dictator of the Mexican nation; 
and his administration commenced in January, 1844. 
The new government met with much opposition. Santa 
Anna had been raised to power by a military revolu- 
tion rather than by a people free to exercise their uncon- 
trolled will, and they regarded with distrust both the 
man and his measures, and were ready for a revolt 
against a government which they had little or no share 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 119 

in establishing, whenever an opportunity was presented 
or a leader called to arms. 

After the lapse of some months Santa Anna ex- 
pressed a desire to retire for a time to his farm for pri- 
vate business, and it became the duty of the senate to 
appoint a president ad interim. 

So strong had the opposition to the dictator become 
that the candidate of the administration, Canalizo, had 
a majority of only one vote over the candidate of the 
opposition. 

Scarcely had Santa Anna left the capital when an 
insuirection broke out in Guadalajara, and congress 
was called upon to make reforms in the constitution and 
laws. Paredes, the revolutionist, openly declared 
against the dictator, and at the head of an army 
marched tov^ard the capital. Canalizo, the acting 
president, immediately invested Santa x\nna with the 
command of the army which operated against Paredes. 
At the head of 8,500 men he departed from Jalapa and 
arrived at the capital. The .provinces through which 
he passed w^ere full of professions of loyalty to his gov- 
ernment and he found the same in the capital. But at 
the same time symptoms of disquiet and uncertainty 
began to appear. Although congress did not openly 
support Paredes, yet it seemed secretly inclined to sup- 
port the revolution; -and moreover it insisted that Santa 
Anna should proceed constitutionally, which he had 
not done; for he had taken command of the army in 
person, which by the constitution he was forbidden to do 
without previous permission from congress. 

Nevertheless he marched with his army on the 22d 
of November for the state of Queretaro, where he in- 
tended to concentrate a force sufficient to overwhelm 



I20 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

Parades. On the same day the chamber of deputies 
voted the impeachment of the minister of war for sign- 
ing the order by which Santa Anna had command of 
the arm}'. On his arr^val at Queretaro Santa Anna 
found that while the m litary were in his favor, yet the 
legislative assembly had already pronounced in favor of 
Paredes and the reforms demanded. He therefore in- 
formed the members that if they did not immediately 
7'e-pronounce in his favor, he would send them prisoners 
to Perote, and on their refusal to do so they were 
arrested by his order. 

When news of these proceedings reached the capital 
the minister of war and the acting president were 
ordered to appear before congress and inform that body 
whether they had authorized Santa Anna to imprison 
the members of the assembly at Queretaro. But instead 
of answering to this demand, on the ist of December the 
minister caused the doors of congress to be closed; and 
on the day following appeared a proclamation of Can- 
alizo declaring congress dissolved indefinitely and con- 
ferring upon Santa Anna all the powers of government, 
legislative as well as executive, the same to be exercised 
by Canalizo until otherwise ordered by Santa Anna. 

When news of these proceedings reached Puebla 
the garrison an*^ people declared against the govern- 
ment and offered an asylum to the members of congress. 
Early on the morning of the 6th of December the people 
of the capital and the military arose in arms, and Can- 
alizo and his ministers were imprisoned. On the 7th 
congress reassembled. General Herrera, the leader of 
the constitutional party, was appointed provisional presi- 
dent of the republic and a new ministry was formed. 
Rejoicings and festivities of the people followed. The 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 121 

tragedy of "Brutus, or Rome Made Free," was per- 
formed at the theaters iu honor of the success of the 
revolutionists. Everything bearing the name of Santa 
Anna — his trophies, statues and portraits — were de- 
stroyed by the populace. Even his amputated leg, 
which had been embalmed and buried with military 
honors was disintered, dragged through the streets and 
broken to pieces with every mark of indignity and 
contempt. 

Santa Anna, however, was still in command of a 
large body of the regular army, at the head of which 
early in January he marched against Puebla, hoping to 
strike an effective blow by the capture of that place, or 
to open his way to Vera Cruz, whence he might escape 
from the country, if that alternative became necessary. 
But at Puebla he found himself surrounded by the in- 
surgents in overwhelming numbers, his own troops 
began to desert him; and after several unsuccessful 
attempts to take the city, on the i ith of January he sent 
in a communication offering to treat with and submit to 
the government. His terms not being accepted he 
attempted to escape, but was taken prisoner and con- 
fined in the castle of Perote. After an imprisonment of 
several months congress, after first ordering his execu- 
tion, finally reconsidered the same and passed a decree 
of perpetual banishment against him, when he left the 
country and made his home in Cuba. 

In the meantime Texas having remained inde 
pendent of Mexico for nine years, and having been 
recognized as an independent nation by the United 
States and the principal nations of Europe, had applied 
for admission into the American union as a state thereof. 
On the 6th of March, 1845, soon after the passage of the 



I 



122 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

act of annexation by the American congress, the 
Mexican minister at Washington demanded his pass- 
ports and returned to Mexico. 

On the arrival in Mexico of the news of the annexa- 
tion, the provisional president, Herrera issued a proc- 
lamation declaring the measure a breach of the national 
faith and called upon the citizens to rally to the support 
of the national integrity, which was endangered. He 
also sent large bodies of troops to the Rio Grande with 
the object of enforcing the claim of Mexico to the terri- 
tory of Texas. 

In view of these facts in the latter part of July the 
government of the United States sent General Zachary 
Taylor with an army to take a position at Corpus 
Christi, in the state of Texas. 

In the election which was held in Mexico in 
August, Herrera was chosen president, and on the i6th 
of September took the oath of oflfice in the presence of 
the Mexican congress. His administration, however, 
was of short duration. Evidently convinced of the in- 
ability of Mexico to carry on a successful war with the 
United States, he evinced a disposition to negotiate for 
a peaceful settlement of the controversy which caused 
Paredes, who was in command of a portion of the army 
designed for action in Texas, to seize the opportunity 
for appealing to the patriotism of his countrymen. He 
declared against the administration of Herrera with the 
avowed object of preventing the latter from concluding 
an arrangement by which a part of Mexico should be 
ceded to the United States. 

On the 2ist of December the Mexican congress con- 
ferred upon Herrera dictatorial powers to enable him to 
quell the revolution, but on the approach of Paredes to 



" FROM CORIEZ TO DIAL 123 

the city at the head of 6,000 men, the regular army 
there declared in his favor the administration of Herrera 
terminated and Paredes became provisional president. 

The hostile spirit which the war party in Mexico, 
headed by Paredes had evinced toward the United 
States, induced the latter to take measures for guarding 
against any invasion of the territory claimed by Texas; 
and on the nth of March, 1846, the army of General 
Taylor broke up its encampment at Corpus Christ i and 
commenced its march toward the Rio Grande. On the 
28th of the same month it took a position opposite 
Matamoras. Open hostilities soon followed, the Mexi- 
cans making the attack. 

The battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, 
fought May 8 and 9, on the soil claimed by Texas, re- 
sulted in victory to the American arms and soon after 
Matamoras was occupied. On the 21st, 22d and 23d of 
September Monterey was stormed, and on the 24th 
capitulated to General Taylor. Upper California had 
previously submitted to the American navy, commanded 
by Commodore Sloat, and the city and valley of Santa 
Fe had surrendered to General Kearney. 

Such were the events which opened the war on the 
frontiers of Mexico. Notwithstanding the energy and 
success which marked the beginning of the career of 
Paredes in the field, he was able to hold his presidential 
office only six months. He developed remarkable 
monarchical tendencies, and a public journal published 
by himself openly proposed an empire with a Bourbon 
on the throne as the only means whereb}^ the Americans 
could be defeated. He marched from the capital to 
quell an insurrection in Guadalajara, and in his absence 



124 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

congress installed General Bravo as president a^ interim, 
on the 29tli of July. 

But the capital developed yet another insurrection. 
Bravo was displaced and General Salas became provis- 
ional president. Under his administration all contend- 
ing factions were reconciled and brought to unity of 
action. The constitution of 1824 was re-established, 
the army reorganized, Santa Anna recalled from exile 
that his skill might be made available in resisting the 
American armies, congress was convened for the elec- 
tion of a president and the deposed Paredes was arrested 
and imprisoned. 

When Santa Anna arrived at Vera Cruz he issued 
an address to the Mexican people, claiming that dis- 
interested patriotism alone had induced him to return, 
and that he intended to seek and fight the invaders. He 
moved rapidly to the capital, took command of military 
affairs, seemed to ignore politics, collected supplies, 
went to San Ivuis Potosi, took command of the army and 
prepared to march against General Taylor at Buena 
Vista. While thus in the field, congress on the 24th of 
December, 1846, elected him president and Gomes 
Farias vice president. 

Farias, the vice president, exerted himself in the 
interim to secure the necessary funds wherewith to 
carry'on the war. He enforced a decree to subject the 
immense properties of the Church to the payment of 
taxes, a duty from which they had hitherto been ex- 
empt. This measure caused great excitement among 
the clergy, and in their interest and at their instigation 
revolutions were commenced in Oaxaca and elsewhere. 

With the disastrous defeat of Santa Anna, at Buena 
Vista, he returned to the capital and assumed the presi- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. I25 

dency. One of his first acts was to remove Farias and 
to abolish the office of vice-president. But the advance 
of General Scott and the American army to Cerro Gordo 
again called him to the front. This time General 
Anaya was appointed presidential substitute, and he 
held the office about two months. 

The defeat of the Mexicans at Cerro Gordo caused 
the return of the army to the capital, and from the 
month of June to the time of the occupation of the city 
by the victorious Americans in September, Santa Anna 
discharged the duties of chief executive. When it was 
determined to abandon the city, he turned the command 
of the army over to General I^ombardino and left 
Mexico. He was succeeded in the presidency by Don 
Manuel Pena Y. Pena, who as president of the supreme 
court of justice, was entitled to the office under the 
circumstances. The seat of government was tempo- 
rarily transferred to Queretaro, the capital being in the 
hands of the Americans. 

When congress assembled Don Pedro Maria Anaya 
was appointed president ad interim on the 12th of 
November, and he held the office until January 7th, 
when Don Manuel Pena Y Pena resumed the position 
and held it until June 3, 1848, when General Herrera 
entered the second time into the presidency, he having 
been duly elected thereto. He concluded the treaty of 
peace with the United States, ending the war which 
commenced in his first term. 

It is characteristic of the people, an indication of 
the factions into which they were divided, and an evi- 
dence of their vacillation and incapacity, to know that 
twelve changes took place at executive headquarters 
during the war with the United States. 



1 26 HIST OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

The task whicli confronted Herrera was a most dif- 
ficult one. It was his duty to revivify the country so 
badly destroyed, to reorganize the various branches of 
the national administration, to upbuild the institutions 
of public and private life, and to reestablish prosperity. 
He was confronted with an exhausted treasury and a 
divided country. 

"While diligently applying himself to his extraordi- 
nary duties he was confronted with a revolution headed 
by the irrepressible Paredes, who based his revolt upon 
the terms on which the war with the United States had 
been concluded; but the government troops suppressed 
the outbreak. The administration of Herrera unfortu- 
nately failed to meet the wishes of the clergy, who 
found it too liberal and progressive. But while discon- 
tent was manifested no successful demonstration was 
made, and the legal term of four years closed in peace. 

The election of 1850 resulted in the choice of 
General Arista, who had held the cabinet ofiice of 
minister of war under Herrera, and who had lost no op- 
portunity to make his office aid him in his presidential 
aspirations. His inauguration took place on the 15th of 
January, 185 1, when, for the first time in the history of 
the country, one president succeeded another, both con- 
stitutionally elected, and without violence. 

Arista had the support of the liberals, though he 
himself was somewhat of a conservative. The congress 
was decidedlv liberal, and the president united with it 
in its policies and laws against centralism. The clergy, 
alarmed at the progress of liberalism, resolved to play 
their vast resources and to make an effective resistance. 
A revolution was started in Guadalajara, This was fol- 



FROM COR7EZ TO DTAZ. 127 

lowed by others, and it all resulted in compelling Arista 
to resign in Januarj-, 1853. 

The presidency then, according to law and usage, 
devolved upon Juan Bautista Ceballos, president of the 
supreme court, and he promptly qualified and assumed 
the office. His first act was an attempt to dissolve con- 
gress on account of its excessively liberal acts and prin- 
ciples, but congress resisted and passed a resolution 
branding him as a traitor. It also proceeded to elect 
Don Juan Mujica president, but he declined the ofiice. 

Realizing the seriousness of the opposition to his 
administration, Ceballos tendered his resignation. But 
at this time, February 4, 1S53, the arm.y which favored 
centralism began a revolution, demanding a national 
convention to form a new constitution, and named Santa 
Anna as provisional president. 

Santa Anna had while in exile maintained corre- 
spondence with the conservatives, centralists and the 
clerg}^ who were ever ready to aid him to power. 
Ceballos insisted upon his resignation; and to relieve 
himself from further responsibility and to secure its ac- 
ceptance he appointed General Lombardino president. 

That officer was a friend to Santa Anna, and he ac- 
cepted the office until he could hold an election in some 
of the states. The election resulted in the choice of the 
exiled Santa Anna; and he, being prepared for the re- 
sult, promptly returned to the scene of his many vicissi- 
tudes. 

On the ist day of April, 1853, the feet of Santa 
Anna were newly placed on the soil of Mexico. His 
journey to the capital appeared as a triumphal march. 
On the road he was greeted by people from all parts of 
the country with the waving of banners and the ringing 



128 HISTORY OF'MEXICAN POLITICS, 

of bells; and lie passed under arches richly adorned with 
the most beautiful flowers, amid the applause of the 
populace and salvos of artillery. His smiles and 
promises had better effect than a studied speech. 

None the less was the effect of his proclamation of 
a general amnesty towards all charged with political 
offenses, which calmed the fears of many who had ex- 
pected acts of vengence. He immediately commenced 
an era of centralism, dissolved congress and the legisla- 
tures of the several states, suppressed all city govern- 
ments where the population was less than 10,000, and 
centralized the administration of the revenues. He ap- 
pointed a cabinet which was in accord with his plans, 
and began to formulate a plan to establish a monarchy, 
based upon the principle of the Spanish empire. 

By his extraordinary faculties he brought his entire 
party into complete subordination to his views and 
wishes as dictator. To further his plans he deprived 
public employees of the right to hold or express opinions, 
limited the liberty of the press, increased the army, dis- 
banded the militia, flattered the populace, and reestab- 
lished the Jesuits. The magnitude of his vanity and 
pretentions was manifest when he took the style of 
"serene highness" and established the order of the 
"Guadalupe," the same as was instituted by the Em- 
peror Iturbide. 

The army approved of these advances toward cen- 
tralism, and some of the districts proclaimed him em- 
peror. These proceedings were not sanctioned by the 
people in general, and to many his assumptions were 
only a subject of ridicule. His favorites believed him to 
be the saviour of the nation, and that if he did not con- 
tinue in command it would be exposed to anarchy and 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 129 

ruin. They thought that he was making many sacri- 
fices for the public good. Consequently, on the i6th oi 
December, 1853, he issued a decree in which he pro- 
longed indefinitely his dictatorship. "Full to- repletion 
with vanity and blind with adulation, Santa Anna 
began to consider himself as nearly a god." 

Opposition to his dictatorship promply took the 
form of revolution, and distinguished patriots in all 
parts of the country were developed, who pronounced 
against him. Among those who led in revolt was 
General Juan Alvarez, an old revolutionist who had 
seen servnce with Morelos in 1810-11-12, and who had 
never ceased to love liberty. On the istof March, 1854, 
he proclaimed the plan of Ayutla, wherein he called for 
the convocation of a congress which should form a new 
constitution, by which a federal representative system 
should take the place of the dictator's schemes and arbi- 
trary assumptions. 

This plan was largely favored, and on the nth of 
March General Ignatio Comonfort joined in the move- 
ment, aided by the garrison at Acapulco. The revolu- 
tion gained ground rapidly, and soon a large force was 
under arms. 

Santa Anna took personal command of his army, 
and entered the field to suppress the revolt. He also 
proposed and held a popular election, wherein the people 
should determine whether his dictatorial powers should 
continue or not. By skillful and fraudulent manipula- 
tion it appeared in the returns that his powers and sys- 
tem should continue; but so palpable were the frauds 
perpetrated that it but added to the general discontent; 
and Alvarez's army was greatly reenforced. After a few 



I30 HTS7 OR V OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

contests at arms Santa Anna returned to the capital and 
published himself victorious. 

The sale of a part of the Mexican national domain 
to the United States, known as the Gadsden purchase, 
for the sum of $10,000,000, only a part of which reached 
the national treasury of Me'xico, added to the unpopu- 
larity of the dictator. 

Accustomed to observe the political barometer and 
the popular sentiment, and to note the coming storm 
and to seek a place of security, Santa Anna did in this 
case as he had often done in the past. To avoid antici- 
pated personal injury at the hands of his infuriated and 
despoiled subjects, he secretly left the capital on the 
night of the 8th of August, fled rapidly to Vera Cruz; 
and three days after quitting the City of Mexico he 
sailed for Havana. 

Before leaving the capital he named a triumvirate, 
composed of the president of the supreme court and 
Generals Salas and Carrera, who should administer af- 
fairs of state in his absence. At Perote, while on his 
flight, he issued a manifesto, in which he commended 
his own services and accused others of having ruined 
the country. This was the last paper of importance is- 
sued by Santa Anna in the country, which had been for 
many years the toy of his base intrigues, and whose 
treasure and blood had been poured out in torrents as a 
sacrifice to his ambition. 

Thus ended the official career of this talented and 
energetic, but ambitious and unprincipled man. No 
citizen of Mexico had greater opportunities to benefit 
the country. None did it greater injury. He resided 
for a time in Cuba and then in the United States. He. 
made overtures to the French generals, in 1863, to 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. ' 131 

take part in their invasion and schemes in favor of 
Maximillian: but, as confidence in his integrity was 
lacking, he was not permitted so to do. 

After the fall of Maximillian he scheimed against 
the government of Juarez, attempted to land at Vera 
Cruz, was captured and sentenced to death; but, through 
the leniency of the president, the sentence was com- 
muted to exile. After the death of Juarez he returned 
to Mexico under a general amnesty; but he lived in ob- 
scurit)-, and never again took part in public affairs. He 
died June 20, 1876, and his tomb is in the Panteon de 
Tepeyacac, in the rear of the Cerrito, at Guadalupe Hi- 
dalgo, and his portrait is in the National Museum in the 
City of Mexico. 

When the flight of Santa Anna from the City of 
Mexico became known, on the morning of the 9th of 
August, anarchy ruled; and in their excitement, indig- 
nation, and desire for revenge, the people sacked his 
house, burned his coach and furniture, and in like des- 
perate and lawless manner treated the bouses and prop- 
erty of his ministers and principal partisans and sup- 
porters. 

i 



CHAPTER X. 



1855 TO 1858. 

Alvarez President — Many Reforms — Resigns — 
CoMONFORT President — Suppresses Revolu- 
tion AT PuEBLA — Confiscates Church Prop- 
erty — More Reforms — Church Fights and 
Suffers — Vast Wealth of Clergy — New Con- 
stitution — Churh Opposition — Comonfort Va- 
cillates — Successful Church Revolution — 
Comonfort Resigns and I^eaves Mexico. 

THE triumvirate appointed by Santa Anna without 
delay installed General I,e Vega as acting presi- 
dent, and he succeeded in establishing order in the 
city. The troops of the garrison, however, by a popular 
demonstration, placed General Carrera in charge of the 
presidency; and on the 15th of August he assumed the 
office. However, he resigned; and on the nth of Sep- 
tember L,e Vega again became acting president, and 
held the office until the inauguration of Alvarez. 

With the downfall of Santa Anna the plan of Ayutla 
was put into full force and effect, and the congress 
which was called under its provisions elected General 
Alvarez provisional president. He entered upon the 
discharge of the duties of the office on the 4th of October, 
1855. He appointed Comonfort minister of war, and 
also took into his cabinet such decided liberals as 
Juarez and Ocampo. 



I<ROM CORTEZ TO DTAZ. 133 

Now for the first time in the history of Mexico was 
there an administration of national affairs, not under the 
absolute control of the clergy, complete in all depart- 
ments, and sustained by the fundamental law. Alvarez 
occupied the chair of state only until December 12th, 
but in that short period ma-ny reforms were inaugurated. 
He annulled all despotic measures adopted by Santa 
Anna, and removed his corrupt appointees. 

During his administration the famous and character- 
istic "Law Juarez" was promulgated. This law limited 
the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical and military tri- 
bunals, and abolished the charters and privileges of the 
clergy and the army. Although these measures were 
necessary to prevent other and threatened political dis- 
turbances, the enemies of the government censured it 
greatly, attributing the measures to a base desire to 
humiliate the clergy, and to limit their influence. 

There was a conservative element among the people 
who, at this juncture, urged Alvarez to resign his ofiice 
in favor of Comonfort, his minister of war. Alvarez was 
an old man with no ambition except to benefit his 
country; and having the greatest confidence in Comon- 
fort, his friend, ally and fellow-patriot, he cheerfully 
complied with the persuasions and committed the presi- 
dency to his hands. 

Although less radical in his politics than Alvarez, 
the new president maintained faithfully the Plan of 
Ayutla, and for so doing the clergy continued their 
machinations; and soon after they installed an insurrec- 
tion headed by Haro, one of Santa Anna's cabinet offi- 
cers. Other chiefs of influence gave co-operation, and 
soon after a large insurrectionary army was in the field 
at Puebla. Comonfort in person took command of the 



134 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

government troops, gave battle, and gained a signal 
victory, which resulted in the surrender of Puebla. 

Inasmuch as the clergy of the diocese had been the 
promoters of the insurrection, Comonfort caused the 
sequestration of enough property of the Church to pay 
the expenses of the war, and to indemnify the govern- 
ment against all damages and prejudices which had oc- 
curred. 

These measures, so radical and so different from the 
past centuries of the history of Mexico, caused a great 
commotion; and the Bishop Labastida was so marked in 
his actions that he was banished from the country, and 
with other refugee chiefs sailed for Europe. That he 
did not yield in his opposition to the reformed republic 
is shown by the fact that when the French troops took 
possession of Mexico in accord with the plans of the 
French emperor and the pope of Rome to overthrow the 
lawful republic, this same I^abastida, then promoted to 
the office of archbishop, came with them and aided to 
establish the empire. 

Following the overthrow of the revolt of Puebla, a 
decree was published which suppressed the Jesuits in 
Mexico; and on the 25th of June, 1856, the famous law 
of which Miguel I^erdo was the author was promulgated. 
By this law all corporations, civil and ecclesiastical, 
were prohibited from owni-ng real estate, except such as 
was necessary to the business of the organization. It 
gave to all lessees of any church property the right to 
purchase the same on advantageous terms, and gave the 
right oi '' denunciation, '' v^hereby any improved property 
of the Church which should be untenanted could be 
entered and possessed by any citizen; and the title would 
go with the possession. A decree was also issued order- 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 135 

ing the sale of all unimproved real estate of the Church 
at an assessed value. The Church was to receive the 
proceeds of the sale, but the land was to be thereby 
freed from ecclesiastical control, and to become a part of 
the taxable wealth of the country, held in private 
hands. 

The clergy issued anathemas against these orders, 
and denounced any and all who should purchase at the 
sales, with the assurance that the curse of God would 
go with the title thus acquired. The result was that but 
few bidders had the courage to take the risk. But with 
wise foresight as to the speculative opportunity, and 
with the impression that the clergy were not the kind 
of people for whom God would interfere by a special pro- 
vidential visitation of an injurious character, some had 
the courage to buy and take title to valuable properties 
at ruinously low figures; and as a result many Mexicans 
are now millionaires, who, while they enjoy the benefits 
of the property, have not found themselves to be the 
spec'al subjects of divine wrath, nor even to be avoided 
by their fellow-men, priests included. 

In September, 1856, Comonfort had information 
that certain ecclesiastics, who were domiciled in the 
monastery of San Francisco, in the city were conspiring 
against his government. By his order the national 
troops took possession of the building and its inmates. 
The monastery was suppressed and its property confis- 
cated. Afterwards the decree of suppression was re- 
called, but the conspiring ecclesiastics were not molli- 
fied. 

These measures caused the clergy to raise a fearful 
outcry, and to hurl anathemas at the government, but 
the only result was the banishing of many of the clergy 



136 HISTORY Oh ME ' ICAN POLITICS, 

and friars. The deportment of Comonfort in all these 
trying times was so straightforward and so generous 
that he gained many friends and secured the sympathies 
of many for the liberal cause and principles. 

Mexico had secured her independence with a grand 
revolutionary struggle which ended in 1821; but the na- 
tion was feeble and vacillating, and groaned under the 
evils transmitted from three centuries of military, politi- 
cal and ecclesiastical oppression. 

"In the great struggle of the present period the re- 
publicans directed their attacks upon despotism, super- 
stitution, and the odious distinctions between class and 
race, seeking to unite all classes into a compact and in- 
telligent effort to dispossess placemen and spoilsmen, 
who in the past aflnliated with any and all parties to 
secure spoils. 

"The conservatives claimed that the masses were 
in no condition to practice and enjoy equality of rights 
and liberty; and that only the Church had power and 
the indispensable ability to maintainnationality. 

"The centralists and monarchists claimed that it 
was unwise and injudicious to divide the country into 
states that so to do was perilous to union and order; and 
that the supreme authority should be deposited in the 
hands of one vigorous person, who could suppress revo- 
lutions and secure the advancement of the country; and 
that power should be lodged with the religious and the 
rich of the land, instead of the people in general. 

"The liberals recognized the origin and tendencies 
of the evil, and with energy continued their attacks 
upon the same, and in spite of occasional reverses main- 
tained their efforts. Education gained ground, the in- 
quisition had been abolished, and the Jesuits had no 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 137 

more power; and so gradually the power of the Church 
had been diminished. 

"The Spanish government had administered a ter- 
rible blow against the priests, friars and military tribu- 
nals, just before the independence of Mexico had been 
gained; and now the republic w-as following the excel- 
lent example. Vows made to religious orders were ab- 
solved, missions had been secularized, and at the same 
time the right to name and number the prelates had 
been exercised, regulations had been made and enforced 
whereby the revenues and incomes of the Church and 
clergy had been limited, and the civil tribunals had 
been invested with the right to supervise the Church, 
the clergy and their properties. 

"These acts were at the dictation of Juarez and 
Lerdo, and had for their principal object the depriving 
of the clergy of power to carry forward their peril- 
ous machinations; for with their immense riches they 
were able to control political elements and parties, and 
perpetuate their selfish and injurious plans."* 

From the date of the conquest of Mexico, in 1521, 
the clergy had charged themselves with two lines of 
work. One was to see to the spiritual welfare of the 
people, and to that they devoted some of their leisure, 
and had made some progress; the other was to secure as 
much as possible of the wealth of the country into the 
hands of the clergy and the coffers of the Church, and 
in the last named duty they had made greater progress. 
Notwithstanding the losses which the Church had sus- 
tained by the war and other opposing measures, in i860 
one-third of the national wealth was absolutely in their 
control, though the state coffers were empty. 

*Biografia de Diaz. • 



138 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

The holdings of the Church and clergy at that time 
was $500,000,000 in real estate and $150,000,000 in 
personal property. These accumulations were the re- 
sult of the policy adopted by the Spanish discoverers 
and conquerors, who had liberally granted to the Church 
a division of the spoils in the form of large concessions 
of land and important privileges. To aid the reader in 
understanding the facts, the following is inserted: 

"The Church has occupied in Mexico a very promi- 
nent part for good and for evil. The cross and the 
sword have marched hand in hand on the road to con- 
quest. * » * * Notwithstanding the Church is 
enriched with casual profits, gifts and the increase of 
values, until on a fair calculation its properties are 
equivalent to half the total riches of the country in real 
estate, the revenues from the nine dioceses and that of 
Chiapas, at the conclusion of the eighteenth century has 
been computed positively at $13,000,000 annually, of 
which the third part went to the archbishop. * * * 
* * The power of the clergy was sustained also by a 
great number of privileges, among the most conspicuous 
being the right to exercise the jurisdiction of ecclesi- 
astical courts of justice, the influence which they ex- 
ercised in the confessional, and the terrible weapon 
which they had in the 'Halls of Torment of the Inqui- 
sition. ' With the advent of Republicanism, the Church 
delivered to the same a furious blow, for its attitude was 
pronounced in favor ot Spain, supported by an encyclical 
from the Vatican."* 

Up to the inauguration of the reforms introduced 
by the Juarez and the Lerdo laws, and the constitution 
of 1857, there could scarcely have been said to be more 

*Biogr^fia de Diaz. 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 139 

than two classes among those who were citizens — the 
Church on one hand and the army on the other — for the 
numerous mixed and Indian populations were almost 
wholly unrepresented in the government. 

The stranger was reminded of this domain of 
military and spiritual power by the constant sound of 
the drum and the bell which rang in his ears from early 
morn to midnight, drowning the sounds of industry and 
labor; and by their paraphernalia of show and parade, 
deeply impressing him that there were no truly Re- 
publican influences prevailing around him. 

A large standing army was maintained, not to 
guard the nation against invading foes, but to protect 
the government, which happened to be in power against 
the people. During the first thirty- seven years of inde- 
pendent life Mexico had eight or nine distinct forms of 
government, fifty changes in the office of chief execu- 
tive, and more than three hundred revolutions. All 
these changes came from the army and Church com- 
bined or singl}^, or were the patriotic uprisings of the 
people to resist and overthrow usurping and oppressive 
administrations which had no better right than the will 
and ambition of the clergy or the military. 

The development of liberal ideas culminated in the 
enactment of a new constitution on the 5th of February, 
1857, which was of surpassing merit for the country. 
This constitution is the same with certain amendments, 
which is the fundamental law of Mexico to-day. It 
was the work of the champions of liberty who had added 
to their innate patriotism the accumulated wisdom 
acquired by their experience in the politics of the 
country for forty-six years of turbulence, revolutions 
and wars. 



I40 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

The president of the constitutional convention was 
Valentine Gomez Farias, who had delivered the first 
blow at the party of the Church in 1833. It was of the 
same spirit as the constitution of 1824, and was based 
upon that of the United States, but was much advanced 
in sentiments of reform. Among its provisions, and 
those which attracted the hatred and opposition of the 
clergy, were liberty in teaching, provisions for granting 
liberty from monastic vows, the liberty without restric- 
tion of the tribune and the press, the prohibiting of 
corporations to possess real estate, the abolition of 
special privileges and hereditary titles and of special 
tribunals, the conferring upon the government the right 
to supervise the affairs of ecclesiastical orders and dis- 
cipline and the no less important provision that the 
Roman Catholic religion was not imposed as the religion 
of the state. It also provided that the president of the 
supreme court of justice should succeed to the presi- 
dency in case of the death, resignation or disqualifica- 
tion of the president. 

The Church and the army combined to oppose the 
new constitution, which was to take effect on the i6th 
of September, the anniversary of Mexican independence: 
and they put in force all of their influences to create a 
reaction against it. So hostile was the attitude of the 
clergy that it became necessary to arrest the archbishop 
and others of the higher orders. Their resentment was 
not in any degree mollified when Iglesias, a member of 
the cabinet, promulgated a decree prohibiting priests 
from collecting their ordinary revenues and lees for 
services and limiting them to just such sums and 
amounts as were necessary for their maintainance. 

The first meeting of the congress held under the 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ, 141 

auspices of the new constitution occurred on the 7th of 
October, 1857. The majority of the members were men 
of liberal principles, and Juarez was elected to preside. 
The election for national officers was held and Com- 
onfort was elected to the office of president, having 
for two years been only provisional executive. Juarez 
was at the same time elected president of the supreme 
court of justice. 

The new officers entered upon the discharge of their 
respective duties on the ist of December, 1857. This 
was the signal for united hostile action on the part of 
the clergy and the army, who opposed both the con- 
stitution and its official representatives. They had also 
the co-operation of many civil employees. Their united 
action caused the president to vacillate. To aid him in 
his dilemma he called a council of representatives from 
each state and the first dignitaries of the Church. Under 
their advice, influence and threats, he revoked the very 
constitution which he had signed, by which he held his 
office, and which he had ten days previously sworn to 
maintain. 

Inasmuch as Juarez had been the instigator of the 
vigorous reform and anti-church policies of Comon- 
fort's administration, the clergy singled him out for 
special punishment; and the president at their instance 
caused his arrest and imprisonment, notwithstanding 
his position as president of the supreme court of justice 
and constitutional vice-president. 

In the place of the constitution Compnfort set up 
tht "Bases of Political Organization of the Mexican 
Republic," proclaimed by Santa Anna in 1843, as the 
organic law, thus making a complete surrender to the 
clerical centralist party. By this timid, weak and 



142 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

traitorous policy, he lost his relation to the Republicans 
and, being manifestly unreliable, he failed to satisfy the 
opposition. 

Taking advantage of the timidity and practical 
errors of Comonfort, the Church party, led by General 
Zuloaga, started a rebellion at Tacubaya, where he was 
in command of a part of the army. Comonfort dis- 
covered too late the mistake he had made, restored the 
constitution and released Juarez. He organized the 
National Guard and tried to suppress the insurrection. 
Zuloaga received the support of Miramon and others, 
took the field and captured the capital, the garrison 
there co-operating with the revolutionists. 

Comonfort then resigned the presidency and fled 
to Vera Cruz. Thence on the 21st of January he took 
passage for the United States and afterwards sailed for 
Europe. But he returned to Mexico, became a member 
of the cabinet of Juarez, followed that officer when he 
was compelled by the French army to abandon the 
capital and was traitorously assassinated on the 12th of 
November, 1863. 



CHAPTER XI. 

1858 TO 1859. 

Juarez President— ZuIvOaga Revolutionary Church 
President — Occupies the Capital — Juarez 
Flees to Vera Cruz via Panama and New Or- 
leans — Biography of Juarez — Zuloaga Recog- 
nized BY Foreign Governments — War — War — 
War — Spiritual vs. Carnal Weapons — Confis- 
cations. 

THK flight of Comonfort and his cabinet from the 
capital made Zuloaga master of the situation. 
Many of the liberal deputies of con»gress were ar- 
rested, others fled to Queretaro, where seventy of them 
organized a congress under the constitution, recognized 
Juarez as president, and with all due and legal forms he 
was installed as constitutional president on the loth of 
January, 1858. He appointed a cabinet, organized an 
army, and proceeded to the discharge of the duties inci- 
dent to the responsible office. 

The deputies of congress who were in accord with 
the Plaii of Tacubaya, and a junta of notables, elected 
Zuloaga provisional president on the 22d of January. 
He proceeded to exercise the duties of the office, named 
a cabinet, annulled the constitution and the ultra-liberal 
decrees and laws of Comonfort's administration, and 
ordered the restoration of all goods and property of 
which the Church had been deprived. He also placed 



144 HISTORY OF MEXICAN tXJLITlCS, 

an army in the field to capture Juarez and break up his 
government. 

Juarez fled to Guanajuato and then to Guadalajara. 
At the latter place he was taken prisoner by a renegade 
on the 17th of March, and was sentenced to death. 
When his capture became known throughout the 
county it gave great joy to the clergy, as it was con- 
sidered to be the death blow to Juarez and to liberalism. 
But their joy was short lived; for before the sentence of 
death could be executed a military force that was loyal 
to the president came to the rescue, and the liberated 
Juarez was enabled to reach the city of Manzanillo, on 
the Pacific coast, on the 17th of April, when he sailed 
for and crossed the isthmus of Panama, took ship for 
New Orleans, and thence sailed for Vera Cruz, where 
he arrived on the 4th of May, and was cordially received 
by the governor and other liberals. 

The city of Vera Cruz was a strong place, sustained 
as it was by the castle of Ulna; and being the principal 
port of Mexico the revenues there collected aided to 
secure funds wherewith to carry on the war, and to 
secure arms and munitions from the United States. 
There Juarez set up his government as the constitu- 
tional president of the Mexican republic. 

Benito Pablo Juarez was a pure-blood Indian of the 
Zapoteca tribe. He was born in an adobe house with a 
dirt floor, in the state of Oaxaca, on the 21st of March, 
1806. He became an orphan in early life, his father 
having died just before and his mother shortly after his 
birth. At the age of twelve years he could speak only 
his native tongue, and could neither read nor write. 
Being a penniless orphan he toiled at boyish occupa- 
tions, among which was herding cattle. 



FROM COkTEZ TO DIAZ. 145 

His industry and intelligence attracted the notice 
and enlisted the sympathies of a merchant, who placed 
him in a seminary. He passed with honor the course 
of studies in that school, when a pious friend, noting his 
good qualities, proposed to provide for his education for 
the ecclesiastical profession. 

While Juarez apppreciated the generous offer, his 
honesty and patriotism forbade its acceptance. The 
times were very favorable for education in the politics of 
the countrv, as ever since he began his studies there had 
been a continual series of pronunciamientos, outrages, 
revolutions and wars; and party zeal had risen to the 
grade of excessive heat. Hidalgo began his revolution 
when Juarez was four years of age, Iturbide and Guer- 
rero secured the independence of the country when he 
was fifteen, Santa Anna issued his first pronunciamiento 
two years afterward, the war against the Spanish in- 
vaders, and the insurrection to overthrow Guerrero, and 
federalism took place when he was twenty-three, and 
for four years the country was in a state of general, 
political and military excitement, and war was almost 
continuous. 

Juarez early in his knowledge of these discussions, 
excitements and battles, had adopted liberal ideas and 
principles, and had become the enemy of the ambitious 
and covetous Church. Under the influence of his very 
positive political principles he declined to study for the 
priesthood and decided to become an advocate, or 
lawyer. Availing himself of all means at command, he 
received the degree of bachelor of laws in 1832, and at 
the same time was elected a deputy to the legislature of 
Oaxaca, his native state. Two years afterwards he re- 
ceived his credentials as abogado, or attorney at law. 



146 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

Thus rapid was the elevation of this humble Indian 
boy, who at twelve years of age, nearly naked, worked 
in the mountains, and whose hopes at that time of ac- 
quiring education, position and fame were on a par with 
the cattle which he herded. Twenty-four years after 
this date he occupied the presidential chair, and could 
use with energy and eloquence the language of which 
he knew not a single syllable at the age of twelve years. 

Juarez remained through all his life a liberal in 
politics, and opposed to centralism. His -ability, energy 
and success as a political leader called down upon him 
the hatred of the Church and such of its friends as were 
at any time in power; and under such persecution he 
experienced all the vicissitudes of political life in 
Mexico, including arrest, imprisonment, sentence of 
death, escape, exile and amnesty. But all these were 
compensated by his honors, for in addition to the office 
of legislator he held that of judge, senator, governor 
and cabinet minister, before he became by popular elec- 
tion president of the supreme court of justice, and in the 
line of succession to the presidency, in 1857. 

When Santa Anna returned from exile and became 
president in 1853, he caused the arrest of Juarez, and 
without giving him time or opportunity to consult his 
family and friends, sent him to prison at Vera Cruz, and 
then to Cuba. From there he went to New Orleans, 
where he lived in poverty for more than a year. But 
during that time he studied the laws and institutions of 
the United States, imbibed more fully the spirit of 
liberty and progress, and was thus better prepared for 
the work which now fell to him as president of the re- 
public of Mexico. During his exile he also studied the 
lives of Washington and Bolivar, whom he took as 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 147 

models, and it is no disparagement to those immortal 
names to add in the same category that of Juarez, as a 
world-distinguished statesman and patriot. 

In this contest for the constitution, law and order 
against revolution and the monopoly of a wealthy domi- 
neering class, Mexico anticipated the United States by 
three years. The pure patriot and wise statesman, 
Juarez, stood as firmly for the welfare of his country at 
that time as did lyincoln for that of the United States in 
1 86 1, and the final results in Mexico in the success of the 
national cause was not less to the benefit and glory of 
that country than was the final victory for the constitu- 
tion, law and order, and the overthrow of a domineering 
revolutionary class in the United States in 1865. 

Zuloaga, however, as provisional president, occu- 
pied the capital, and his military forces were in posses- 
sion of most of the country. With this prestige all of the 
representatives of foreign governments, including the 
United States, recognized the government of Zuloaga. 

Thus two rival administrations disputed for the 
control of public affairs. One represented liberal princi- 
ples with a federal representative system; the other sus- 
tained centralism. One was based upon the constitution 
adopted by the people in a legal manner; the other was 
a revolution. The centralist cause was supported by the 
clergy, the wealthy, and the aristocrats of the country; 
the liberals had the sympathy and aid of the more 
humble classes. It was a war for the life or the death 
of each system, and it raged with all the bitterness of a 
religious war, and was the most sanguinary of all the 
civil wars in which Mexico had been engaged. 

To the arms of the revolutionists was added the 
spiritual forces of the Church. The clergy launched 



148 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

anathemas against the liberal chiefs and cause, and pub- 
lished them broadcast. They also from the pulpit and 
in the confessional excited the fears of the timid and the 
superstitious. 

Juarez met these ecclesiastical assaults with a more 
powerful and effective force. On the 12th of July, 1859, 
he published a decree, whereby he confiscated to the 
government all of the property of the Church. This de- 
cree was founded on the fact that the clergy had been 
the principal supporters of the royalists in the war for 
independence, and since that time had been the most 
powerful enemy to liberal principles, and that they had 
promoted the present civil war with the object of retain- 
ing supremacy over civil as well as religious affairs. 

This decree devolved upon the nation all of the 
properties of the clergy, both regular and secular. It 
also separated the Church and the state, and at the same 
time conceded to all religious sects the right to establish 
and teach their doctrines, publicly and without restraint. 
By this decree the clergy were restricted to such com- 
pensation for their services as should be voluntarily be- 
stowed by their parishioners; and the Church was pro- 
hibited the right to possess real estate. It also dissolved 
absolutely all religious orders and communities, as be- 
ing contrary to the public morals and welfare; and it 
declared that matrimony should be considered a civil 
contract, freed from the rules and expenses imposed by 
the clergy, v^^hich had in their exercise tended to 
corrupt the morals of the country. 

This decree originally and primarily had for its ob- 
ject the control of the many evils which existed, and 
was issued to that end in good faith, but in addition it 
proved a strong political arm to assist the liberal cause. 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 149 

The stand taken by Juarez to dispossess the Church 
of property, revenues, power and influence, was not the 
result of any change in his religious faith. He was 
born, reared, lived and died a Roman Catholic. H^ 
never had assistance in the way of counsel or advice 
from a Protestant. In early life he had seen the baleful 
results of having the affairs of state controlled by the 
Church. 

The vicious greed for wealth and power inherent in 
all political corporations was tully developed in the 
Roman Catholic church in their many years of experi- 
ence and dominion in Europe, wherein kings and king- 
doms had been made and destroyed, through the exer- 
cise of the temporal power, which also had given oppor- 
tunity to levy vast tribute and thereby the clergy of that 
church had been fully prepared to take possession of the 
spoils offered in the occupation of Mexico. For more 
than three centuries the resources of that rich country 
had been drawn upon to their utmost, and the Church 
in Mexico and in the mother country had, therefrom, 
luxuriated in adorned cathedrals, churches and chapels, 
with all the paraphernalia of its imposing ceremonies, 
Avhile the priests, bishops and archbishops had enjoyed 
personal and physical benefits, had in fact become — like 
their class the world over — fat as stall-fed cattle, and 
realized the comforts of ease, wealth, luxury and idle- 
ness in the richest exuberance. 

Aside from their princely holdings of real estate, 
the revenues and incomes resulting from their minis- 
terial pay amounted to $13,000,000 annually, and the 
archbishop managed to keep the wolf from the door of 
his domestic domicile, wherein no wife could overdraw 
his income by her personal or social ambitions in the 



I50 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

way of equipage, dress, adornments or entertainments, 
by having apportioned as his share one-third of the 
gross amount, giving him the princely income of $i i ,000 
a day. 

The poor Indian orphan boy, Juarez, had learned 
of these facts, for they were facts of the centuries, taught 
by legend and deeply impressed upon the aborigines by 
the confirming testimony of observation and experience. 
He had seen the wealth and pomp which surrounded 
the sacerdotal profession, the superstitious reverence 
bestowed upon all that pertained to the Church; and 
with age and education he saw with pain the fact that 
so perverted were the noble intuitions which once in- 
spired the natives, that they now kissed the hands 
which had enslaved and despoiled them, and that genu- 
ine love and blind faith were the motives which 
prompted their continual bestowments, and that noth- 
ing within their power was withheld from the Church 
and its ministers. 

To his logical mind there should have been some 
adequate return for all these bestowments by the people. 
He saw that they were instructed in pious processes, 
could say their pra3^ers and perform their religious 
ceremonies in a foreign and to them unintelligible 
tongue, could cross themselves and reverence all con- 
secrated persons and places. He saw that some of the 
favored or talented were more extensively educated, 
especially when they had the means to recompense 
their instructors. 

He saw more, and that was that the officials of the 
Church had usurped the. control of political affairs, that 
they had set up and sustained state officials who were 
in favor of centralism, and that they had opposed and 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. x^x 

overthrown all who were in favor of popular rights, 
education and equality. 

While he had occasion, had his ambition and 
vanity prompted it to thank them for the overthrow of 
the patriot, Comonfort, which act made him presi- 
dent, he was painfully aware that they were his ene- 
mies, even to death. 

But the greedy and corrupt Church had met her 
match and the end proved that she had met her fate. 
The fearless, stubborn, incorruptible Indian president 
was a practical statesman and patriot, if not a practical 
soldier, and so presented and sustained the rights of his 
office and the principles of his decrees in councils of 
state and on fields of contest from the time of their 
issuance in 1S59 to 1872, the time of his death, that 
they were incorporated in the constitution by amend- 
ment in 1873, and they are still the fundamental law of 
Mexico, with no tendency to their repeal. 

Although the Liberals were few in number, the 
good qualities of their leader and president had captured 
the confidence and fealty of the people, as he offered 
liberty from the oppressions of the clergy and the rich 
proprietors of the lands. The result was a repetition of 
the grand popular movement of 18 10, when the multi- 
tudes flocked to the standard of Hidalgo and his suc- 
cessors, though the circumstances were vastly changed. 
Then it was a movement to overthrow the government; 
now, it was to sustain the government and the constitu- 
tion. Then the leader was of a vacillating disposition 
who, when he had the City of Mexico in sight and at 
his feet, lacked the decision of character to secure the 
prize and establish his principles in the form of a new 



152 



HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 



government. Now the leader was a man of stubborn 
will with clear perceptions and established policies. 

The army of Juarez was re- enforced by guerillas 
from the plains and the mountains. When defeated in 
one action, they dispersed, only to reunite on other 
fields. With no baggage trains nor artillery they 




JuARiez. 



effected rapid and secret movements. With success 
their numoers increased, and eventually by capture and 
purchase ..hey had all the required munitions of war and 
secured final victory. 

The army of Zuloaga was large and well com- 



FROM CORIEZ 70 DIAZ. 153 

manded and had for a time abundant means supplied 
from the coffers of the Church, 

Inasmuch as the wealth of the country was con- 
centrated in the hands of the Church, it was largely 
from that source that the armies in the field secured 
financial aid. To the revolutionists, as the party upon 
which the Church depended for further power, assist- 
ance was cheerfully extended. But the I^iberals were 
f-lso necessitous, and the following from the Spanish 
history of the times will show to some extent their 
method of supplying their wants. 

"Stimulated more and more by necessity the 
Liberals were not limited in their efforts to secure funds 
from real estate, tithes and other sources, but boldly 
possessed themselves of the ornaments and sacred 
images and vases from the altars. At first this caused 
no small fear at the crime which had been perpetrated, 
imbued as the people had been from their childhood 
with superstitious reverence; and a cry of horror was 
raised by all classes, particularly by the Conservatives, 
who threatened the perpetrators with divine wrath as 
the consequence of their sacrilege. However, as none 
of the threatened vengeance from heaven followed, the 
people little by little had their fears dissipated, and as 
the profanations filled the Liberal treasur}^ it also 
served to dispel the odor of sanctity which surrounded 
the sacred temples. " * * * * 1 

"The Conservatives, seeing the exemption from tlu (» 
threatened consequences, were emboldened; and they 
also, but with limited excesses, replenished their trec;:- 
uries from the same sources, when excessively neces- 
sitous " 



CHAPTER XII. 



1859 TO i860. 

Continued War — Executive Changes With Revo- 
lutionists — Defeat of Centralism — ^Juarez 
Enters the Capital in Triumph — No Church 
Reception nor Te Deum. 

WHEN Juarez left the Pacific coast in April, 1858, 
he disclosed his plans to no one. So his 
appearance at Vera Cruz was a great surprise 
to all. He took with him no army, and when he 
issued his proclamations, the chief force behind him was 
the moral power which attached to the office of presi- 
dent in its relation to the constitution. This was 
counteracted by the manifest success of the revolution, 
based upon the plan of Tacubaya, the occupancy of the 
capital by Zuloaga as provisional president, and the 
victories of the revolutionists in the field. 

The Revolutionary or Conservative army occupied 
most of the central states with no very considerable 
constitutional ar;jiy to oppose. The northern states 
apparently were taking no part in the struggle, and 
there remained to Juarez only a small part of the state 
of Vera Cruz, as Orizaba and Jalapa, cities which con- 
trolled the roads and mountain passes into the interior, 
were in the hands of the Conservatives. But when the 
information that Juarez had established his govern- 
ment at Vera Cruz and had declared his plan of contest 



FROM CCRTEZ TO DIAZ. I55 

was made known throughout the country, the old 
Liberals and Constitutionalists in all parts began to 
organize for his support. 

Under the influence of lyiberal generals armies of 
greater or less proportions were mustered and put into 
the field to operate upon the most . feasible plans pre- 
sented to effect the purpose of securing the success of 
Juarez and the constitution. 

The lines were closely drawn and all the horrors of 
fratricidal war with its sanguinary reprisals were perpe- 
trated. It became a rule, followed on all occasions, to 
put to death all chiefs and important persons who were 
unfortunate enough to be captured, and often the pri- 
vates from the ranks suffered the same fate. Cities 
were captured and recaptured, alternately suffering 
spoliation with each change of military masters. 

Seeing his opportunity General Blanco, a lyiberal 
commander, made a raid upon the City of Mexico in 
October, captured the place and sacked some of the rich 
convents, but he was met by superior numbers and 
obliged to retire with loss. In November Perote fell 
into the hands of the Conservatives, who promptly 
executed all persons of rank there captured. The re- 
sults of the year's campaign were greatly in favor of 
the Conservatives and the prospects of Juarez were 
indeed gloomy. 

Zuloaga gave command to concentrate forces upon 
Vera Cruz for its capture and depended upon Eche- 
agaray, governor of the state of Puebla, to carry the 
order into effect. But that officer who had given re- 
luctant support to the plan of Tacubaya, instead of 
moving against the city of Vera Cruz, on the 20th of 
December, 1858, pronounced against any further war- 



156 HISIORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

fare, declaring that whichever party succeeded by war, 
it all resulted in irreparable injury to the common- 
wealth of Mexico. He therefore issued a call for a con- 
vention, to be composed of deputies from the several 
states which should form a new constitution and elect a 
president in the interest of peace. 

The army at the capital gave support to this cail, 
and it all resulted in the selecting of Robles Pezuela as 
provisional president. Zuloaga graciously yielded to 
this movement and the convention proceeded with its 
work under Pezuela as presiding officer. 

These proceedings suspended the proposed attack 
upon Vera Cruz, which was certainly of great benefit to 
Juarez, who was not prepared for it. It was considered 
by many Conservatives at the time that this action of 
Echeagaray was at the instigation of Juarez himself, as 
it was his policy to have emmissaries constantly in the 
enemies camps and councils. 

When the constitutional convention finished its 
work in January, 1859, it elected General Miramon 
president and Robles Pezuela vice-president. Miramon, 
who was in command of the troops in the field, went to 
the capital and declared that the army was in honor 
bound to support Zuloaga who, if he had failed in any 
matter, should not be held to account as it was for want 
of support from Echeagaray and others. 

He therefore declared Zuloaga still to be president 
and returned to the army in the field. Zuloaga, how- 
ever, feeling that he was placed in a false position, de- 
clined the further exercise of the duties of the office 
eight days afterwards, appointed Miramon as his sub- 
stitute, and retired to private life. Miramon, probably 
foreseeing the course that Zuloaga woulr' take, named 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 157 

his cabinet, ordered a forced loan of i per cent upon all 
the property in the country and moved immediately 
against Vera Cruz, deeming the possession of that city 
and the capture of Juarez, or the dispersal of his gov- 
ernment of the greatest importance. He there, on the 
1 6th of February, concentrated his forces for the attack. 

In the meantime English and French squadrons 
had appeared in the harbor at Vera Cruz, making 
demand for the payment of so much of the national 
debt of Mexico as was due to citizens of their respective 
countries and indemnity for outrages. Juarez made 
promises of ample satisfaction, which relieved him in 
that matter, and then turned his attention to the mili- 
tary assaults of Miramon, which were actively begun 
on the 12th of March. 

Notwithstanding the resistance made by the con- 
stitutional forces, it seemed that the city must yield, 
when fortunately the assulting forces suddenly aban- 
doned their positions and marched for the capital. The 
cause of this retreat was that the lyiberals had gained 
some victories in the north and center, and with con- 
centrated forces were marching rapidly upon the capital 
with the double purpose of capturing that city and re- 
lieving Juarez. 

The garrison of the city was surprised by the sudden 
appearance at its front of 8,000 men. But the Liberal 
general in command neglected to enter and contented 
himself with fortifying at Tacubaya and Chapultepec. 
In the meantime re-enforcements came to the relief of 
the Conservatives, who were then enabled to take the 
field and attack the enemy. The result was the defeat 
of the Liberals, who lost a great part of their artillery. 

Miramon arrived on the field at the close of the 



158 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

battle and assumed to himself credit for the victory, 
sacrificed the lives of all the officers who had been taken 
prisoners and at the same time, to the great disgrace of 
himself and his officers, put to death many medical 
students who were voluntarily assisting in the care of 
the wounded on the field. Taking advantage of the 
withdrawal of troops from many central points for the 
relief of the capital, the Iviberals captured and sacked 
many cities and strongholds. 

The Spanish citizens who resided in Tampico made 
complaint to their government that they had sustained 
losses in the nature of forced loans and outrages at the 
hands of the contending Mexican factions in their 
internecine struggles. To secure a reparation for such 
outrages, a Spanish vessel of war appeared at Vera Cruz, 
demanding satisfaction and guarantees. These demands 
were complied with by Juarez, as far as possible, with 
promises and diplomacy. About the same time the 
Miramon administration entered into a treaty with 
Spain, through the Spanish minister and General 
Almonte, whereby demands of Spanish subjects for 
reclamations, outriages and compulsory loans agreed to 
under the Santa Anna regime in 1853, were assumed by 
the Mexican government, and negotiations were begun 
by which assistance was to be rendered the Miramon 
administration in the nature of a European protectorate 
Over Mexico. 

These measures were strongly opposed by the 
minister from the United States, who declared the ex- 
istance and vitality of the "Monroe Doctrine." In 
April, 1859, the United States withdrew its recognition 
from the revolutionary government and transferred it to 
Juarez. This was a great aid to him in its moral force 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 159 

and materially assisted hira in securing loans, arms, 
munitions and troops, and gave encouragement through- 
out Mexico to the loyal people and developed support 
to the constitutional government. 

In October, 1S59, Miramon made a loan through a 
banking house., the head of which, originally a native 
Oi Switzerland, had become a naturalized French citizen. 
This loan was for the sum of ^15,000,000, and sub- 
sequent developments show that it was a part of a 
scheme laid in view of the possible failure of the Church 
party in their fight against Juarez and the constitutional 
government, whereby they could call the aid of the 
French emperor and army to finally establish centralism 
in Mexico. 

The holy alliance, the I^atin union and the gov- 
ernments in Europe, whose sovereigns were Roman 
Catholics, had been fully apprised of the issues and of 
their opportunities by emissaries who for years had been 
at work at home and abroad to secure the overthrow of 
Republicanism and the establishment of centralism, and 
when the time came they were not delinqueat as re- 
enforcements. 

The last part of 1859 was dark for the Juarez troops. 
During the year they had victories and defeats in vari- 
ous parts of the country, but at its close they were most 
frequently defeated. Seventy or more battles had been 
fought since the commencement of the war in which 
the lyiberals had been defeated in more than three- 
fourths of the engagements. Still their forces were 
tenacious and inspired with hope when they remem- 
bered that it took ten years to secure the independence 
of the country. The motto of Juarez was: "Thus we go 
from defeat to defeat on to ultimate victory. ' ' 



i6p HIST OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

Miramon was an inspiring genius to the Conserva- 
tives and a good general in the field who kept his forces 
compact. The clergy never failed him, and in their 
ecclesiastical offices and opportunities endeavored to 
inaugurate a religious crusade; and in turn the bishops 
and other clergy of high order and influence were sub- 
jected to extortion, and in some cases to banishment 
from their fields of duty as acts of retaliation on the part 
of the lyiberals. 

Miramon had success in the north and the east in 
1859, so to complete the work he made preparations to 
attack Vera Cruz. He sent to Havana and purchased 
two steam vessels and loaded them with materials of 
war. They were to bombard the city from the gulf 
while he operated by land. He concentrated 7,000 men 
near the cit> in February, and early in March the ships 
of war appeared at the port, freighted with supplies. 
The squadrons from other nations were reluctant to give 
place to the trespassers, as they were considered semi- 
piratical, not having papers for their class or purpose. 

At the request of Juarez the commander of the 
United States squadron sought to examine into the 
regularity of their papers, when he was fired on. Deem- 
ing this act sufficient to subject the matter to further in- 
quiry, he seized the ships and took them to New Or- 
leans as prizes. On final investigation they were re- 
leased, as was expected by Juarez; but their hostile 
attacks, notwithstanding, were avoided; and for want of 
their aid and the materials of war which they con- 
veyed, Miramon failed in the attack. 

On the seizure of the ships the commander of the 
British squadron offered his mediation in the interest of 
the merchants of the city, whose loss would be serious 



FROM CORTEZ 7 DIAZ. i6i 

and unavoidable in case of bombardment. At his sug- 
gestion an armistice was agreed to, and an assembly of 
prominent citizens of Mexico was convened to consider 
some plan whereby the contest could be settled. 

This assembly proposed to call a convention of rep- 
resentatives from the several states to form a new consti- 
tution, that should be submitted to a vote of the people 
with a provisional government in the interim. Juarez 
took the ground that the country had a constitution and 
a government, and he insisted on calling a congress, 
according to the constitution of 1857. 

This being his ultimatum, Miramon announced the- 
commencement of a vigorous prosecution of the siege 
and bombardment. Accordingly, he used all of his ma- 
terials of war upon the city from pure malice, as he had 
no intention to assault. Having exhausted his ammu- 
nition and suffered much from want of supplies and 
from sickness among his troops, he abandoned his posi- 
tions on the 2ist of March and moved toward the capi- 
tal, ordering his officers to their old posts throughout 
the country. 

This retreat from Vera Cruz inspired the liberals 
with new life and hopes; and under a vigorous system 
of operations, many cities were captured and many 
states fully occupied. Miramon was, however, not idle, 
and after his retreat from Vera Cruz he made prepara- 
tions to open the campaign against the liberals in the 
center and north. 

Just at this time Zuloaga proclaimed his resump- 
tion of the presidency, basing the act upon the fact that 
Miramon, who was but his substitute, had exceeded his 
authority in negotiating the loan from the Swiss-French 
house. But the truth of the matter was, he wished to 



l62 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

regain the power and office from which he had been 
displaced; and deemed the present time, when Miramon 
was suffering in reputation from his reverse at Vera 
Cruz, to be a proper opportunity, he accordingly im- 
proved it and resumed his office. But his plans were 
not laid with wisdom, as Miramon had not become un- 
popular, nor had he himself secured the confidence of 
his party nor the people. 

Miramon, active as ever, moved rapidly to the 
capital at the head of the army, and after a personal 
altercation with Zuloaga, arrested him, and then con- 
tinued his march against the enemy, carrying the 
prisoner with him. This conduct on the part of each 
showed that the loyalty of Miramon and the abnegation 
of Zuloaga, as exhibited a year previously, were founded 
in deceit and insincerity. 

The diplomatic corps in Mexico sustained Zuloaga, 
as the true president, the one with whom they had 
transacted all business in the interest of their respective 
countries. The Spanish minister took action to sustain 
him and thus conserve the peace of the country and se- 
cure the benefits which resulted from dealing with the 
president, and not a substitute, in which relation he 
viewed 'the position of Miramon. But it was all in 
vain, and only laid the foundation for radical action on 
the part of Miramon a few months afterwards, when he 
made a forced loan. 

With the captive Zuloaga under arrest, Miramon 
and the army arrived at lycon, where the prisoner made 
his escape. Miramon, not knowing the whereabouts or 
intentions of the fugitive, lost no time in submitting the 
matter at issue to the president of the supreme court of 
justice, Don Jose Ignatio Pavon. He in turn took the 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 163 

opinion of the councils of the states, and Miramon was 
declared to be the president. Miramon then with a 
gracious spirit turned the executive office over to the 
president ot the court, as had been done in similar cases 
before. That officer immediately convened representa- 
tives from the states which had been parties to the elec- 
tion of president in January, 1859, and which had put 
into force the principles of the conservative party. This 
body, by a vote of nineteen to four, favored Miramon, 
who was then declared to be president, to the exclusion 
of Zuloaga. 

Miramon in the meantime, with an army of 7,000 
men, marched upon Siloa, where General Jesus Gonza- 
les Ortega had concentrated the liberal forces. A battle 
took place on the loth of August, when Miramon was 
defeated with the loss of all his artillery and trains, and 
the capture of many generals, colonels and other officers, 
together with a great part of his army. The star of 
Miramon was becoming obscured. 

However, when he returned to the capital he was re- 
ceived as if a victor, and he immediately took the oath of 
office as president under the new election. Zuloaga was 
again permitted to retire to private life. 

Ortega having defeated Miramon, prepared to move 
upon the capital. In anticipation of final success he is- 
sued a circular, directed to the representatives of foreign 
governments in the City of Mexico, in which he made 
known his determination to occupy the capital; he also 
informed them that under no pretext would any recla- 
mations be allowed for supplies furnished or loans made 
to the conservatives. 

The situation of the conservatives was indeed criti- 
cal, as only three grand centers of population were now 



i64 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

under their control — Guadalajara, Puebla, and the City 
of Mexico; and they were also seriously divided by 
factions. That he might leave no hostile force in his 
rear Ortega moved upon Guadalajara, and after a siege 
of some weeks reduced that place, when he marched 
with his united army upon the City of Mexico. He di- 
rected his march to the eastward, so as to interpose be- 
tween the capital and Vera Cruz. 

Intrepid as ever, Miramon displayed the same ener- 
getic spirit by which he had sustained himself until the 
present time in his meteoric career. Notwithstanding 
that he was surrounded by people who were filled with 
consternation, he redoubled his efforts to maintain a 
cause which was at the point of collapse. He secured 
funds by forced loans and sequestrations, and had no 
regard for safeguards furnished by ministers of 
foreign countries. He moved to the field with a new 
army, composed of the troops taken from surrounding 
garrisons. At Toluca he gained a victory over Berioza- 
ble, and captured General DegoUado and the citizen- 
statesman, Gomez Farias. 

Inspired by these successes Miramon determined to 
march against Ortega, who had concentrated 16,000 
men and had more than forty pieces of artillery. To 
confront this force, he had but little more than half that 
number of men. The armies met in the final battle at 
Calpulalpan; and after an engagement, which lasted 
from the 21st to the 23d of December, Miramon was de- 
feated, to the utter destruction of his hopes and the 
overthrow of the cause of centralism. He returned 
rapidly to the capital, turned civil affairs over to the 
local officers, and made his escape to the coast, where 
he took refuge on board a French vessel of war. , 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 165 

The victorious constitutional army, which was now 
increased to 25,000 men, marched immediately for the 
capital, which it entered on the 27th of December. It 
was received with applause by the citizens, who had 
adorned the streets and houses with garlands; and the 
heroes were greeted with a perfect rain of flowers. 

On the ist day of January, 1861, President Juarez 
arrived at the capital, and his welcome was a grand 
ovation, and such a one as was due to the president of 
the republic of Mexico. It was notable, however, that 
the Church greeted him with no imposing ceremonies, 
and no Te Deuin was let loose. 



^%^W\^W\^^J%^V%^ 



r66 HlSl OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



i860 TO 1863. 

Juarez in the; Capitai. — Elected President — En- 
forces Reforms — Suppresses Religious Orders 
Jewels to Treasury — Bells to Foundry — Pic- 
tures TO Academy of Art — Public Debt — Pay- 
ment Suspended — Treaty of London — Allied 
Occupation — Spanish and English Withdrawn 
— French Remain — Cinco de Mayo — French 
Defeated — Puebla Finally Captured. 

THE triumphant entrance of Juarez into the capital 
was full evidence of the overthrow of centralism 
and the establishment of Republicanism as the 
organic and fundamental principle of government. This 
the people of Mexico had decided in the most emphatic 
and unmistakable manner. The lines had been closely- 
drawn, the issues made up, the forces, both civil and 
military mustered, and the battle fought to a finish. 
The Church had lost and the state had won. 

With an honest desire that the full results of victory- 
might be decreed and decided by civil processes as well 
as on the field of battle, Juarez called an election for 
president in accordance with the constitution. His 
tenure of office was in a sense accidental, and he deter- 
mined not to hold it longer unless the people by an ex- 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 167 

pression of their wishes, made in accordance with the 
organic law, so decided. It was in the issue that the 
election of Juarez for president meant the enforcement 
of his decrees of July, 1859, published at Vera Cruz. 

Juarez was elected, took the oath of ofhce, and as 
iustructed at the polls proceeded immediately to the 
sequestration of Church property and to the disbanding 
of ecclesiastical societies. Monasteries were closed and 
the members of the various religious orders and socie- 
ties were expelled from the country, force being used 
when necessary. Bells were taken from church towers 
and sent to foundries to be cast into cannon for the use 
of the state. Jewels and massive chandeliers of gold 
and silver were converted into money for the treasury, 
and pictures were sent to the San Carlos Academy of 
Art. Buildings were sold and streets were opened 
through church property for the use of the public. It 
is estimated that from the property thus sequestrated 
the government secured the sum of $20,000,000. 

The era of reform had fully come, and though the 
measures were radical they had been called for, first by 
reason of the extortions to which the people had been 
subjected by the insatiable greed of the clergy for 
centuries, and second by the decrees of war and of civil 
proceedure. That which came to the public treasury 
was only a small part, a mere tithe of what had been 
wrongfully taken from the people. 

This struggle between the constitutional govern- 
ment and the Church party and its allies is known in 
T.Ijxican history by the name of the "War of the Re- 
form," and has made "La Reforma" a favorite appella- 
tion. By it the outreaching power, influence and 
domination of the Church was suppressed and the 



1 68 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

supremacy of the state and of the people was assured. 
The constitutional reforms which took place at that time 
are annually celebrated in Mexico on the 5th of 
February, and as a perpetual memorial of the beneficent 
era-, the beautiful Paseo which extends from the center 
of the city to Cliapultepec, though planned and laid out 
by the Emperor Maximillian, has been adopted by the 
people to show by its use and beauty that grand time 
in the history of the country. It is now called the 
"Paseo de la Reforma." 

But the Church party had allies who were not citi- 
zens of Mexico, who when needed came to its aid. The 
oft recurring matter of the foreign debt came up again, 
and inasmuch as the Juarez government was fully 
established, and its acts and decisions would be final 
and binding, it became a duty to examine carefully into 
any and all claims presented for payment. 

The Knglish had from the first days of independ- 
ence been the creditors of Mexico, and the alleged 
amount due to or claimed by citizens of England was 
about $80,000,000. Spain had some claims, mainly 
those acknowledged by Miramon, while French citizens 
held the loan negotiated by Miramon and other de- 
mands of doubtful nature. Many of these claims were 
originated as a part of a deep-laid scheme, whereby 
friends of the holy alliance could have foundation for 
basing the necessity and propriety of an European 
intervention in the affairs of Mexico, under the mask 
of business and financial negotiations and demands. 
The total amount claimed by citizens of the named 
nations was about $100,000,000. 

That he might have time to investigate these claims 
and secure funds for the payment of such as should be 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 169 

proved to be just, Juarez, soon after he was established 
ill the executive department in the City of Mexico, by 
direction of congress issued a decree in which he sus- 
pended payment upon the foreign debt for the term of 
two years. 

About the same time the French minister, Saligny, 
claimed that he was the victim of an attempted assault 
by being fired at while seated on the terrace before the 
French legation, and assuming that it was an inten- 
tional offense, demanded his passports. England and 
Spain also suspended diplomatic relations with Mexico. 

Napoleon III., emperor of France, then proceeded 
to execute a plan which for many years had prevailed 
in his intentions, and in which he had been encouraged 
by emissaries from Mexico, some of them representing 
the centralist government directly, and some the Church 
interest alone. Among the number was one Senor Jose 
Maria Gutierrez de Estrada, who in 1840 left Mexico as 
an exile for having disagreed with the republican, and 
suggested an imperial form of government. Another 
was Labastida, bishop of Puebla, whom Comonfort had 
exiled for the part which he took in a revolution in 1856. 

To these it was clear that Juarez would continue 
his republican policies and thereby insure the political 
death of the clerical party. It meant primary educa- 
tion of the people, a long forbidden right, as enforced in 
clerical rule, the recognition of the political rights of 
each individual which had been held by the clergy as 
"a da.nnable heresy," the disestablishment of the 
Church, the encouragement of immigration, and there- 
with the dissemination of independent thought; all of 
which was a program of progress which was sure to 
prove the deathblow to ecclesiastical dominion. 



I70 HIST OR Y OF MEXICAN POIITICS, 

By processes not fully disclosed except in the 
accomplishment, the Church in Europe concentrated 
upon a plan of action wherein the French emperor took 
the initiative in the conspiracy which was to result in 
the overthrow of Republicanism and the establishment 
of an empire in Mexico which, while it would be in 
some degree feudatory to France, would as a much more 
desirable object assist the Latin race in the struggle with 
the Anglo Saxon, sustain Catholicism and prevent the 
further spread of Democratic doctrines and institutions 
in America. 

The time chosen to put this scheme into operation 
was certainly most propitious. The United States was 
then engaged in civil war, and to the view of the Euro- 
pean conspirators, the confederates would succeed in 
the contest. When that consummation, so devoutly 
hoped for should be realized, the Confederate States 
government was to be the ally of the proposed empire, 
as against the United States and its international 
policies. 

Or if the government at Washington should be 
maintained and no separation of the Union take place, 
the war would so absorb the attention and military re- 
sources of the country that the Catholic-Latin empire 
coming out of and closely related to the courts of 
Europe could be organized and firmly consolidated, and 
thus the influence of the United States be effectually 
checked towards the south. 

Napoleon, however, did not at the time disclose his 
schemes nor his allies therein, but acted on the plausible 
business pretext presented in the fact that the debtor 
nation, Mexico, had refused to provide for the payment 
of its obligations. At his instance a convention of rep- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 171 

resentatives, from the three creditor nations, was held 
in London. The result was the "Treaty of London," 
signed on the 31st of October, 1861. The treaty pro- 
vided for the concentration of a military and naval force 
sufficient to possess and hold all ports of entry on the 
Gulf of Mexico, and to collect and apply the revenues 
to the payment of the claims of citizens of the three 
blockading nations. It was also stipulated that no at- 
tempt should be made to interfere with the government 
nor the territory of Mexico. 

A copy of the treaty was sent to the government of 
the United States with a request for its co-operation; biit 
the secretary of state gave a very decided reply, in which 
it was not only announced that the project was distaste- 
ful to the president, but also a violation of the interna- 
tional policy of the union. 

Regardless, however, of the views of the American 
executive, as well as the policies of the nation, the 
allied forces under command of the Spanish marshal, 
Prim, landed at Vera Cruz in December, 1861, and pro- 
ceeded to carry out the proposed plans. There were 
800 British, 2,600 French, and 6,200 Spanish troops, 
constituting a qombined army of g, 600 men. 

Coincident with the landing of the allies at Vera 
Cruz, there returned to Mexico a number of the former 
leaders of the clerical party, who, assured and embold- 
ened by the presence of the allied army, proclaimed the 
secret of their foreign mission and its ends, and thus an- 
nounced the conspiracy which had up to that time re- 
mained locked up in the minds of a few. They disclosed 
the plan of an empire, with the Archduke Maximillian 
on the throne. This called for a letter of opposition 



172 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

from Prim and -a protest from the Mexican minister at 
Paris, with a demand for his passports. 

Juarez well knew that the fortress of San Juan de 
Ulua could not successfully resist the allied bombard- 
ment and assaults. He therefore withdrew, and concen- 
trated his armies in the interior; and to avoid hostilities 
if possible, resorted to diplomacy. When the deliberat- 
ing parties first met they were made aware of the facts 
in the case and of the plans of Juarez, and preliminary 
terms were proposed by which the debts of Mexico 
could be funded to the end of final payment. It was 
then clearly developed that Napoleon had other schemes 
and other plans than those presented in the convention 
held in I^ondon. These facts, together with the inflexi- 
ble determination exhibited by Juarez, caused the 
Spanish representatives to vacillate. Finally in April 
Prim with the Spanish squadron retired from the enter- 
prise. The English followed the example of Spain in a 
few days, but not until they had secured a valuable 
business arrangement with Mexico. So ended the triple 
alliance. 

When it became manifest to Juarez that the French 
would continue their hostile invasion he exerted himself 
to the utmost; and appeals were made to all Mexicans 
to lay aside for the time their differences, and to unite 
against the common enemy. The army was put in the 
best state of organization, and funds were raised to pre- 
pare for a long contest. A decree was issued on January 
25, 1862, in which the president declared that all citi- 
zens of Mexico between the ages of sixteen and sixty 
who did not take up arms in defense of the country were 
traitors. That any armed invasion of Mexico without a 
previous declaration of war, or any invitation of such an 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 173 

invasion by citizens or foreigners residing in the 
country, was a crime against the independence of the 
nation, and would be punished with death. Civil offi- 
cers were given extraordinary powers over the property 
of citizens, courts-martial were provided to take the 
place of ordinary tribunals and processes, and severe 
penalties were laid against Mexicans who entered the 
service of the invaders. By circulars addressed to foreign 
nations Juarez declared that the proposed empire was an 
infraction of the rights of the nation, and a pretext by 
which Mexico should be transformed into a colony of 
France. 

The withdrawal of the English and Spanish troops 
changed the aspect of the enterprise; and instead of an 
intervention it became an invasion without a previous 
declaration of war, and all attempts at concealment or 
evasion were thrown off. General Laurencez was placed 
in command of about 5,000 French troops, while 
Generals Marquez and Mejia, who had served with the 
armies of Zuloaga and Miramon, took command of the 
Mexican force, which was in sympathy with the in- 
vaders. These combined armies took position at Cor- 
doba and Orizaba. 

The French officers spoke boldly of having come to 
the country to suppress republican anarchy and to estab- 
lish a throne. On the i6th of April a proclamation ap- 
peared, convoking all Mexicans who sympathized with 
the intervention, and inviting them to place themselves 
under the standard then being raised by the most liberal 
people of Europe, and at the same time denying all in- 
tentions to make war against the Mexican nation. 
Emissaries were sent among the Mexicans to create 
hostility to the government; and on the 19th of April a 



174 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

pronunciameinto was issued, renouncing the authority of 
Juarez and declaring in favor of Almonte, who in turn 
issued his manifesto, in which he appealed to his fellow- 
citizens to give aid in the establishment, with the help 
of the French, of a government which should be stable, 
dignified and worthy of confidence. 

General lyaurencez organized an army of 6,000 sol- 
diers, and marched upon Puebla. The Mexican army 
which held that city was commanded by General Igna- 
cio Zaragoza, who was now prominently brought to 
public notice and honor. A battle was fought within 
and around the city on the 5th of May, 1862. The 
French were badly defeated, and retreated to Orizaba. 
This first battle and first victory brought to the front 
raany distinguished Mexicans, one of them being Gen- 
eral Porfirio Diaz, who in after 5^ears took part in the wars 
and politics of Mexico, and who has become the idol of 
all true Mexican patriots and statesmen. This victory 
on the "Cinco de Miyo," the 5th of May, is annually 
commemorated as a national holiday in Mexico. 

By this defeat Napoleon saw that the establishment 
of an empire in Mexico was a more serious undertaking 
than he had at first imagined. But he placed the forces 
under the command of General Forey, increased their 
number with French re-enforcements, and directed 
the general to accept and organize a Mexican con- 
tingent. He directed him also to set up a form of 
provisional government, and to give the people assur- 
ance that the government would be based on a new po- 
litical system. But he also instructed the general so to 
conduct his civil procedures that the French would be 
in the ascendant, 

Forey well understood what was expected of him, 



FROM CORTEZ 10 DIAZ. I75 

and in September he published broadcast a manifesto, in 
which he claimed that the government of Juarez was a 
tyranny, and that he had come to destroy it in the in- 
terest of progress and civilization. He also restricted 
the assumptions of Almonte who, as provisional presi- 
dent, had not pleased the people or satisfied the clergy. 
In fact the general assumed a decided military dictator- 
ship over the country. 

In January, 1S63, Forey marched into the interior; 
and, on the i6th of March, appeared before Puebla with 
an army of 26,000 men. Zaragoza having died in the 
meantime, General Ortega was in command of the Mexi- 
can forces, numbering 22,000 men. He placed the city 
in the best state of defense on all sides, and awaited the 
attack. 

The French general, knowing well the stuff of 
which the Mexican soldier was made, avoided for a time 
a direct attack, and adopted the Fabian policy of wait- 
ing. So he did not make his first movement until the 
26th. From that day the siege and assault continued 
until the 17th of May, when the white flag was displayed 
as a signal of surrender. The remaining force, which 
yielded to the French army, was 12,500 men. So tena- 
cious, courageous, and desperate was the garrison that 
they had consumed horses, mules and dogs as rations; 
and it was only when absolutely nothing edible remained 
that they laid down their arms. Their last ration con- 
sisted of a decoction of orange leaves. Famine did much 
to aid the French arms. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



1863 TO 1864. 

Juarez Fleks the Capital — French Occupation — 
Manifestos — Regencies — Notables — Mexico a 

I Hereditory Monarchy — Maximillian Chosen 
Emperor — Terms and Conditions — Coronation 
in Austria — Visits Pius IX. — Benediction — 
Church Superior to State — Maximillian in 
Mexico — Monroe Doctrine — Violated by 
Roman Catholics — Americans Cannot Forget 

IT. 

AFTER the fall of Puebla the French army moved 
upon the capital. Juarez was disposed to make 
resistance, but the fact that only 14,000 men were 
at his command caused the evacuation of the city, which 
took place on the 31st of May, 1863. The government 
was transferred to Queretaro, and afterwards to San 
I/Uis Potosi. Upon the removal of the government the 
conservatives assumed command in the capital and 
openly declared for French intervention. 

On the loth of June General Forey entered the 
city, and on the 12th he published a manifesto in which 
he proclaimed his occupation of the capital, and gave 
much advice to Mexicans as to their political affairs 
in which the words "concord," "fraternity" and 



FROM C0R7EZ 70 DIAZ. 177 

"patriotism" were interspersed with great profusion. 
Although he promised much more than lay in human 
power to fulfill, he asserted that after nearly half a 
century of republican anarchy, any kind of a govern- 
mental change would be for the welfare of the countrj'. 
On the 1 6th of the month he appointed a supreme 
council of the nation, which consisted of thirt3'-rive 
avowed monarchists. 

This council elected three regents, who were Gen- 
erals Almonte and Salas and the Archbishop I^abastida, 
he having been exiled a bishop but returned an arch- 
bishop, bold with the aid of French troops to enter the 
field of politics in the interest of the empire and the 
Church. This junta selected 215 citizens, regardless of 
rank Qf place of residence, who were called the "As- 
sembly of Notables," and were charged with the dutj' 
of formulating a new government. This assembly met 
for the first time on the 8th of July, and en the loth 
made their report, in which they declared for a limited 
monarchy in the form of a hereditary empire, with the 
Archduke Maximillian of Austria for emperor, and with 
the proviso that if that prince should decline the 
crown, then the Emperor Napoleon III. of France 
should have the right to select some other Catholic 
prince to occupy the throne of the new empire. 

His selection for this imperial honor and power was 
not the end of any ambitious scheme on the part of 
Maximillian, Imt was clearly the result of the ambition 
of the French emperor and his wish to respond to the 
emissaries of the Church from Mexico, supported by the 
same organization in Europe. Napoleon also wished 
to reinstate himself with the pope of Rome and with the 
house of Hapsburg, with both of whom he was in bad 



178 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

odor. So he entered into this scheme to give an im- 
perial crown to a scion of that Catholic house, and it is 
more than probable that the arrangements were all 
made before the signing of the treaty of Ivondon. 

Maximillian was the brother of Francis Joseph, 
emperor of Austria; and as one of that family was at 
birth endowed with titles, among which he boasted 
"Archduke of Austria," "Prince of Hungary," of 
Bohemia and Lorrena and "Count of Hapsburg. " He 
was married to Carlote, daughter of Leopold I. of Bel- 
gium, and was at the time of his selection in his thirty- 
second year. 

Though liberally educated and somewhat exten- 
sively traveled, he had not developed marked ability, 
nor had he held important oflEices. Under the circum- 
stances and as sadly shown in his career and death, he 
was but a puppet in the hands of a strategic meddler in 
the affairs of Europe and America. It is said that he 
was pressed by his creditors and very much disgusted 
with his prospects for position and revenue and gladly 
accepted the proffered crown. 

Still he knew of the existence of the republic, of the 
inflexible character of Juarez, of the prowess of the 
Mexican soldiers who had defeated the well-armed and 
commanded French troops in one battle, and had gained 
credit by their fight against superior numbers in 
another. He also knew that the United States govern- 
ment was opposed to the whole scheme. Therefore 
when the formal tender of the crown of the empire of 
Mexico was made to him in October, 1863, by the repre 
sentatives of the assembly of notables at the palace of 
Miramar, he declared his willingness to accept the same 
when the citizens of Mexico should in a general elec- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ, 179 

tion ratify the act of the notables, and when the nations 
of Europe should guarantee protection from any dangers 
which might threaten his throne. 

The combined Franco- Mexican armies at that time 
on duty in Mexico numbered 48,000 men, all under 
command of Marshal Bazaine, and they occupied most 
of the states of the country. Bazaine was always the 
devoted servant of Napoleon, and he cheerfully fur- 
nished returns which showed that Maximillian was the 
choice of the people. Napoleon took it upon himself to 
furnish the demanded military force, and in the "Treaty 
of Miramar" promised to maintain the French army in 
Mexico until the empire was self-sustaining; and to that 
end 8,000 troops were to remain in the country for six 
years and the empire was to be guarded from invasions 
by the United States. 

"I, Maximillian, emperor of Mexico, swear to God 
by the Holy Scriptures, to insure by every means within 
my power the peace and prosperity of the nation, to 
defend its independence and to maintain the integrity 
of its territory. " Such was the oath to which Maximil- 
lian gave signature in the imposing ceremonies of his 
coronation which took place at the archducal palace of 
Miramar in Austria, on the loth of April, 1864. The 
Mexican flag was unfurled above the castle tower while 
twenty-one guns pealed their awful and prophetic roar 
across the placid waters of the Adriatic, and the ready 
and co-operative church choir sang their inevitable Te 
Deum. The Mexican delegation was moved even to 
tears under the combined influences and exercises. 

No Catholic prince so fully and gratifyingly in- 
ducted into the higher order of potentates so fully 
charged with the double duty of overthrowing a re- 



i8o HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

public, and on the ruins thereof erecting an empire, 
committed to the resurrecting and maintaining of Catho- 
lic and clerical dominance, would think of proceeding 
to his work without the papal benediction. - Therefore, 
and as he was a "Grace of God" sovereign "by right 
divine," Maximillian made a j^ilgrimage to Rome to re- 
ceive the required blessing. 

All that there transpired vvill never be made public, 
as the fiasco of the enterprise which so soon ended it all 
to the discredt of the conspiring European powers, and 
in the death of the deceived emperor placed the seal of 
silence upon many lips and closed hermetically the rec- 
ords of contemporary history. But while administering 
the communion to the emperor, his holiness, Pius IX., 
while presenting the host used these pregnant words : 
"Great are the rights of nations and they must be 
heeded, but greater and more sacred are the rights of 
the Church." Significant and ominous words are 
these, and therein is couched the papal view of the 
rights of nations and also of the superior rights of the 
Church as applied to Mexico and to all the world 
besides. 

On the 29th of May, 1864, the new-made sovereigns 
arrived unexpectedly at Vera Cruz, where the inhabit- 
ants received them coldly and without enthusiasm or 
even curiosity; and his first proclamation awakened 
neither admiration nor interest. The imperial party 
made their journey to the capital b}^ way of Puebla, 
where on the 7th day of June the empress celebrated 
her twenty-fifth birthday, and on the 12th they made 
their entrance into the city by way of Guadalupe, 
Hidalgo, amidst the most enthusiastic tokens of joy on 
the part of the people. A Te Deuvi in the great cathe- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. iSi 

dral finished the reception and gave it the appearance 
of a grand religious demonstration. 

"In the various international congresses held in 
Europe regarding Hispano-Mexican affairs during the 
years in which the Mexican people were securing their 
independence and formulating their S5'stems of govern- 
ment, Great Britain had secured the right to supervise 
and work them up as being in better condition so to do 
than an}' other European country or the United States; 
and had it not been for the opportune and energetic 
protests of England and the United States against the 
intervention on the part of certain Eatiu nations in 
Europe, who constituted the so named 'Holy Alliance,' 
it is probable that after the triumph of Ferdinand VII. 
in Spain, whereby he became firmly seated upon the 
Spanish throne, said alliance, Spain and France, would 
have attempted by arms to .vindicate his claim to abso- 
lute power in Mexico."* 

The Monroe Doctrine was promulgated in 1823 to 
the gratification of England, whose minister of foreign 
affairs had long urged upon the United States so to do; 
and the firm stand thereby taken coincided with the 
policy and wishes of England, the citizens of which had 
financial and commercial relations with the new nation. 

In that year James Monroe, president of the United 
States, in his message to congress gave voice to senti- 
ments and principles which have been known in history 
as the "Monroe Doctrine." The Spanish provinces in 
South America and Mexico had long been struggling 
with Spain for their independence, and the people of the 
United States desired to recognize them as sovereign 
nations. The president declared that "the American 

*Hisioria de Mexico 



i82 HISTOR Y OF. MEXICAN POLITICS, 

continents are not to be considered as subject to future 
colonization by any European powers. ' ' He further 
said "that we should consider any attempt by European 
powers to extend their systems to any portion of this 
hemisphere aa dangerous to our jieace and safety. 
* * * * gut with the governments who have de- 
clared their independence and maintained it, and whose 
independence we have on great consideration and on 
just principles acknowledged, we could not view any 
interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or con- 
trolling in any other manner their destiny by any Euro- 
pean power, in any other light than as the manifesta- 
tion of an unfriendly disposition toward the United 
States. * * * * It is impossible that the allied 
powers shoul4 extend their political system to any por- 
tion of either continent without endangering our peace 
and happiness. * * * * j^^ jg impossible, there- 
fore, that we should behold such interposition in any 
form with indifference. ' ' He declared the true American 
policy to be "neither to entangle ourselves in the broils 
of Europe nor permit the powers of the Old World to 
interfere with the affairs of the new." 

This novel idea was equivalent to saying that the 
United States forbade the nations of Europe to acquire 
t^ntory this side of the Atlantic. However question- 
able it might be censidered for the president to avow so 
openly and fully sentiments like these, the people of the 
Union adopted them at once; and the line of policy then 
marked out has ever since been that by which the 
United States government has regulated its conduct on 
this important subject. 

For forty years this international policy had pre- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 183 

vailed in the western hemisphere, aini been known, to 
and respected by all European nations. 

The international policy of the Old World is th^t 
which is called the "Balance of Power," which, whfle 
nearly indefinable, is notwithstanding 3o omaipr* 
sent and sensitive a force that if infracted by the threat- 
ening of a Belgian fortress, the invasion of a Swiss .Can- 
ton, or the loss of a key to a Church in Jerusalem, there 
would be written protocols, summoned conferences, and 
mustered armies. 

There existed at that time, as at the present, from 
the borders of Canada to the Straits of Magellan a 
complete system of republics professing the Same politi- 
cal creed. There was not an interest or an ambition of 
a single one of these republics which threatened an in- 
terest or an ambition of a single European power; and 
yet the states composing the holy alliance- — the empire 
of Austria, the empire of France, and the pope of Rome 
— with whatever of civil and divine power he pos.^essed, 
all united to disregard the righteousness of principle 
embraced in the Monroe Doctrine, and also to eliminate 
the great exemplar republic as a paramount political 
power. 

"The success of the establishment of a foreign em- 
pire in Mexico would have been fatal to all that the 
United States cherished, to all that it hoped peacefully 
to achieve. The scheme of invasion rested on the as- 
sumption of the dissolution of the Union and its division 
into two hostile governments." — Blaine. 

■ ' The presence of Maximillian in Mexico to establish 
a monarchy on the ruins of a republic was clearly the 
work of the Roman Catholic Church. The attempt to 
suppress liberty, progress and popular education, and to 



i84 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

continue the exorbitant revenues of tiie old ecclesiasti- 
cal system had the sympathy and assistance of the 
Romish Church from the lowest of the orders to his 
holiness, Pius IX; and had there been success it would 
have gratified all loyal Catholics the world over. 

About five months after the selection of Maximillian 
as emperor of Mexico and four months before his coro- 
nation the pope, following up a correspondence of syin- 
pathy with the confederacy, sent a letter addressed "To 
the Illustrious and Honorable Jefferson Davis, Presi- 
dent of the Confederate States of America," wherein 
among other terms of recognition he said: "It was pecu- 
liarly gratifying to Us to hear that you illustrious Sir as 
well as the people whom you govern,'' and "Would to 
God that the other inhabitants of those regions (the 
northern people) and their riders,'''' also, "We also pray 
the same all-clement Lord of Mercies to shine upon 
your excellency the light of his Divine grace, and to 
unite you and Ourselves in bonds of perfect love. ' ' 

"Given at Rome at St. Peter's the 3d day of Decem- 
ber, 1863, in the Eighteenth year of Our Pontificate. 

Pius, P. P. IX." 

The recognition of the confederate states by the 
pope had immediate and wide spread influence upon the 
loyalty of his followers in the Union armies, and soon 
an increased number of desertions was reported. Of 
deserters who were American born 45 per cent were 
Romanists. From the nation which furnishes, priests 
pot house politicians, and policemen for the United States, 
and from whose sons about 144 ,000 enlistments were made, 
the records show more than 100,000 desertions, the largest 
number occuring after his holiness joined the confeder- 
ate cause, and stood willing to have the I^ord of Mercies 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 185 

unite liim to Jefferson Davis iu bonds of perfect love by 
an act of Divine grace. 

Det the past be the past, but let it be the past with 
all the instructions and warnings thereby furnished to 
patriotic Americans, whose national tocsin is, "Eternal 
vigilance is the price of liberty." Object lessons like 
these, so clearly exposed to view on the pages of history, 
cannot be obscured by mists of falsehood; nor can their 
colors be obliterated bywords of oil falling from the lips 
of emissaries of the propagando, whose ofhce and inter- 
est it is to falsify the truths of history to further the 
schemes of Rome — that Rome which maintains a wise 
and vigilant system of pQzvcr and place getting in the 
United States through civil, political and personal effort 
of priest and layman — Rome, which subordinates all 
dictates of law and enlightened conscience to enforce the 
dogma of Pius IX. "Great are the rights of nations, 
and they must be heeded; but greater and more sacred 
are the rights of the Church." 




CHAPTER XV. 



1864 TO 1866. 

MaximiIvLian lNCAPAB];je — Satisfi^ None — RefUvSES 
THE Pope AM) THE Church — Expenses — Debt — 
Decree op October — Executions — United 
States Troops on the Rio Grande — Monroe 
Doctrine Enforced — French to Evacuate — 
Empress Cari^ote in Europe — Napoleon Faii,s 
Her — Pius IX. A1.S0 — Cari^ote Insane. 

WHEN the emperor and the empress arrived at the 
capital they made the castle of Chapultepec 
their palace. There they established a court 
a*fter the European system, and were ready for the duties 
and pleasures of the empire. 

No newly installed sovereign ever had greater op- 
portunity^ or necessity for the exercise of statesmanship; 
none ever so fully and signally failed. Called to an em- 
pire i4i name only, it so remained. Without any form 
of constitution and without statute laws enacted or 
adopted by the empire when he entered his domain, 
none were formulated. Controlled by no law funda- 
mental or statutory, he was responsible to no representa- 
tive assembly. 

The country needed a firm, shrewd, practical sol- 
dier-statesman as ruler. It had one who dreamed of a 
kind of democratic imperialism, and to whom the prac- 
tical details df government was a bore. 

Mexico specially needed a reorganization of its 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 1S7 

treasury department, as the financial embarassment of 
the nation had been the ostensible reason for the over- 
throw of the republic; but the emperor failed also in 
that matter, and so the credit of the empire depreciated 
more and more. 

The army of the empire consisted almost entirely of 
foreign troops, and there was really no imperial army 
until, by reason of the withdrawal of the French, it be- 
came necessary to organize one; and then it was too 
late. The French army was strong and the emperor 
weak, therefore he leaned upon the French army. 

Bazaine had displayed statesmanship in emergencies 
as well as while acting under instructions from the 
French emperor; therefore Maximillian was willing 
that the general should continue to control the policies 
of the empire, while he cultivated the good graces of 
the people. He dressed in the costume of the country-, 
donned the broad-brimmed sombrero, mingled with the 
people, and was affable to all. He took interest in the 
heroes and traditions of the nation, made himself 
familiar wnth the forms and ceremonies of religion as 
taught and practiced, and performed various acts of 
beneficence. He also made feeble attempts to establish 
reforms in the administration of justice. 

In his good will and affability he cherished a de- 
sire to satisfy all parties; so both conse^rvatives and 
liberals w^ere admitted to his councils and taken intjp 
his cabinet. But his well-meant efforts were fruitless in 
securing unanimity of opinion or harmony of action; 
and political contentions continued, with the additional 
result of exposing his utter lack of knowledge of tke 
science of government and of statesmanship, and there- 
fore he satisfied neither party. 



i88 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POIITICS, 

Moreover, it was discovered that he had the ele- 
ments of deceit and insincerity in his nature. His policy 
seemed to be to temporize when possible, and to com- 
promise when compelled to act. 

As a spendthrift who, after suffering much from 
need, suddenly enters into a fortune, the emperor felt 
like having the world share his exuberance. So life 
at the capital and in some of the larger cities of the 
vicinity was gay during the IJright days of the empire. 
But the days of brilliance were soon over, for the people 
who were his subjects had greater interests involved 
than the personal pleasures of the emperor and his 
suite. 

Statesmen who had taken part in the politics and 
business of the country in the past, and who had given 
a welcome to the empire, hopeful that the change would 
be for the welfare of the commonwealth, seeing their 
mistake became disgusted and alienated. 

The Church party, which with great effort and ex- 
pense had co-operated in the schemes that had ended in 
his selection and coronation as emperor, demanded 
prompt and radical action in the administration of what 
they deemed justice, in their interest. Archbishop La- 
bastida and other high clergy, who in their political 
and ecclesiastical capacity had shaped public sentiment 
to favor the imperial system, demanded the reversal of 
the decrees of Juarez and the restoration to the Church 
of all the rights and property of which it had been des- 
poiled. General Bazaine at first and Maximillian in 
suit gave such unsatisfactory replies that they sent the 
clerical partj^ to the ranks of the disaffected. 

The legate of the pope who was specially sent from 
Rome to supplement and finish the business of Church 



FROM CORIEZ 70 DIAZ. 189 

and state, which had not been fully disposed of when the 
emperor had his final interview with his holiness, raised 
his voice in unison with the archbishop in demanding 
the restoration of the properties which had been seques- 
trated, and in addition he insisted upon ''Hhe exchision 
from the Mexican empire of every form of religion but the 
Roman Catholic; the independent sovereignty of each bish- 
op in his diocese, the absolute control of schools and educa- 
tion, and the immunity of the Church from any interfer- 
ence of the civil authorities. ' ' 

Upon these demands the counselors of the emperor 
were divided; Many of his personal friends held titles 
to part of the real estate, and possessed much of the 
personal property once belonging to the clergy and the 
Church, and they stood in the way of favorable action. 
The emperor, however, could no longer temporize, as 
the issues were upon him. So he refused the nuncio, 
and in turn insisted upon nearly equal usurpations, in- 
cluding the principle that matrimony was a civil con- 
tract, and also upon the subordination of the Church to 
the state, and that the clergy should be classified with 
civil employees; insisting, moreover, upon confirming 
titles to the property of the Church, which had already 
been sold and disposed of. 

This was in reality equivalent to a disavowal of the 
bases on which the empire had been established, and a 
nullification of the motives for the war and an agree- 
ment to the justice of the liberal cause; and it so infuri- 
ated the clerical party that in 1865 they went so far as 
to promote a conspiracy in favor of Santa Anna, with 
whom they hoped to associate Diaz or some other liberal 
chief, and thus overthrow the new-made empire. Thus 



19° HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

the faction upon which the emperor had founded his 
greatest hope for support was alienated. 

The country was held to apparent loyalty by an im- 
mense army composed of foreigners, to the exclusion of 
native soldiers. So the citizens of the country, who 
were patriots at heart, whether conservatives or liberals, 
became dissatisfied and hostile. Places in the emperor's 
suite were filled, mainly, with Belgian, Austrian and 
French soldiers or fledgeling noblemen, who did not 
disguise their contempt for the citizens of the country. 
These together with the commander of the French army 
were bitterly hated. 

But not the least cause of complaint was the in- 
creasing obligations of the country. The emperor ex- 
hibited the same financial incapacity in his imperial 
position which he did as an impecunious scion of royalty 
in Austria. To keep up the court pageantry to which 
he had been accustomed, and which to his mind was in- 
dispensable to imperial dignity, and to carry out some 
of his impracticable schemes in the country, he exhausted 
the revenues and increased the public debt. The single 
item of the imperial civil list amounted to $1,700,000, 
as against $60,000 which had been the president's 
salary. In addition to consuming the revenues arising 
from taxation, the debt of the country was increased 
until it amounted to $250,000,000; and under the pecu- 
liar conditions of the empire the rates of discount and 
interest were exorbitant. 

This extravagance and financial incapacity was a 
great disappointment to Napoleon, who had expected to 
receive financial aid from the reported fabulous wealth 
of Mexico, instead of having such a drain upon his ex- 
chequer as he was compelled to submit to in sustaining 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 



191 



his troops in the country. Thus, without support from 
his people, and with a disappointed benefactor, the em- 
pire of Maximillian, which never promised any benefit 
to the people of Mexico, was doomed to collapse from 
the very beginning. 

While the empire was running its course, and while 
the elements of dissolution and disintegration were de- 
veloping, the government of _ Juarez was being moved 
from place to place, until it finally was located at Paso 
Del Norte, 1200 miles from the capital. There Benito 
Juarez, the true and constitutional executive of Mexico, 
maintained the forms of government, having but few 
adherents. Among them was Sebastian L,erdo de Tejada, 
an able lawyer and statesman, who was his faithful 
minister of relations. Strong of faith, and assured of the 
inevitable dissolution of the so-called empire, they list- 
ened with stoical indifference to the alarms which dis- 
persed their follow'ers. 

Word was brought to Maximillian that Juarez had 
abandoned his cause and crossed the Rio Grande into 
the United States. Impelled by that report he issued a 
decree on the 3d day of October, 1865; in which he de- 
clared that there was now but one government in 
Mexico and that one the empire. Therein he announced 
that any armed resistance to his authority would not be 
considered as war, but as the acts of bandits; that all 
such offenders should be tried by court-martial, and 
that the guilty should be summarily executed. 

General Bazaine issued an order to the army in 
which he said: "Hereafter the troops will take no 
prisoners and there will be no exchange of prisoners." 
All persons taken wnth arms in their hands were to be 
put to death, and rank was to receive no consideration. 



192 



HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 



Within a few days Generals Arteaga and Salazar, who 
were officers in the Republican army, were arrested by 
imperial soldiers, denied rights as prisoners of war, 
tried by court-martial, found guilty, sentenced to death, 
and on the 21st of October were executed by being shot. 
This severity and injustice inflicted upon distin- 




Maximillian. 



guished citizens of Mexico at the hands of foreign 
usurpers and invaders was more than could be endured. 
Some who had been supporters of the imperial cause re- 
fused longer to give aid to the emperor who could adopt 
such a cruel and barbarous policy, and the Republican 



FROM C0R7EZ TO DIAZ. 193 

cause received the support of many who had previously 
remained neutral. The withdrawal of the decree did 
not diminish the hostility which it had inspired. 

During the entire time that the French troops had 
occupied Mexico, the United States administrative offi- 
cers had not ceased to inform Napoleon that his infrac- 
tion of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine would not 
be entirely ignored. But the unsolved problem of the 
Southern confederacy gave the emperor hope that there 
would soon be no United States, and that he had no 
reason for fear. The triumph of the federal arms in 
1S65 and the appearance of General Sheridan with an 
army corps upon the Rio Grande opened the eyes of 
Napoleon. Then the warnings, protests, demands and 
threats of the secretary of state at Washington caused 
him to take a different view of the relations of his gov- 
ernment to the American international policy, and 
Maximillian was informed of the intention of France to 
withdraw its armies from the support of the empire. 

There was consternation at the imperial palace at 
Chapultepec on the 31st of May, 1S66, for on that day 
Maximillian received word of the intended withdrawal. 
Conscious of his weakness and of his inability to main- 
tain himself his courage forsook him, and his first im- 
pulse was to abdicate and return to the safety of his old 
home in Austria. 

The empress, however, in her misconception of the 
seriousness of the case and of the uncertainty of Euro- 
pean support, dissuaded him from taking the wise steps 
ivhicli he proposed. Confident that she could prevail 
upon Napoleon to fulfill the stipulations of the treaty of 
Miramar, she started the voy next day for Europe. 
When she arrived at Paris the French emperor avoided 



194 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

her, but persisting in her efforts she secured a hearing, 
only to be repulsed with rudeness. The interview 
terminated by his asking her by what route she pre- 
ferred to have the imperial railway coach convey her out 
of France. 

It was on her return from St. Cloud and this brutal 
rebuff that the first symptoms of insanity manifested 
themselves. He had firmly announced that he would 
do nothing for her, and that the French troops would 
certainly be recalled from Mexico, proffering at the 
same time advice to Maximillian to give up the im- 
possible struggle and to return to Europe. 

After her repulse by Napoleon, Carlote went to her 
old home at Miramar. Doubtless the quiet and peace 
of that home, and the pleasant memories of the happy 
years therein passed with her husband to whom she was 
lovingly devoted, and the contrast therewith presented 
to her mind as she contemplated the sad and possibly 
fatal involvements of Mexico, hastened the death of her 
intellect, which had received so serious a blow at the 
hands of Napoleon. 

After resting a few days she repaired to Rome to 
see Pope Pius IX. and to beg of him the fulfillment of 
his promises, and especially that he should direct the 
clergy in Mexico to cease their acts of discontent and 
indifference and to give their support to the empire. 
But the pope, like all of his predecessors and his only 
successor, was very human; and inasmuch as Maximil- 
lian had ignored the demands of his nuncio, he gave 
Carlote no encouragement. Then her reason succumbed 
fully to the intense strain, and falling on her knees 
before the pope, she cried in her frenzy: "Saint Peter 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. I95 

issue a bull, I beg j^ou, to all Christians condemning 
those who wish to imprison me!" 

O futile faith, resting upon diplomatic promises 
made by Roman Catholic powers from his holiness down 
— or up— to the insincere trickster and coward, Napo- 
leon III. The pope had interest in Maximillian only 
as a tool to aid the Church to power and money; and as 
the emperor of Mexico had failed to comply with the 
impossible demands made upon him, the pope had no 
further interest in the future of the empire or of the 
emperor. 

Neither was it disinterestedness alone which im- 
pelled Napoleon to invade Mexico, establish the empire 
and select Maximillian, and when the crucial test came 
his visionary ambitions succumbed to stern reality. 

The patriotism and prowess of the Union armies 
maintained the American republic and its international 
policies and thereby overthrew the schemes of the 
French emperor, the holy alliance, and the infallible 
pope of Rome. 

"Poor Carlote!" The political part which she had 
to play in that tragedy of diplomacy ended in that sup- 
plication. She shut herself up soon after in Chateau 
Miramar, and later she was conveyed to Belgium, where 
she was confined at first in the castle of Tervueren and 
still later in the Chateau de Bouchout, where she still 
remains hopelessly demented. 

It is happily probable that she never knew the fate 
of Maximillian. For years she believed he still lived 
as a prisoner in Mexico, and would write letters to the 
sovereigns of Europe demanding their assistance in his 
behalf. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



i860 TO iS67.' 

MAXIMIL1.1AN VACIL1.ATES — Church to thk Rescue;— 
French Embark — Army Organized — Quere- 
TARO — -Emperor Captured — Tried — Condemned 
— Executed — Firmness op Juarez. 

THE news of the failure of the mission of Carlote 
reached the emperor at Chapultepec, and he was 
completely crushed. He saw no way out of his 
troubles, and doubted his ability to prolong the struggle. 
He immediately set out for Vera Cruz, as if his nearness 
to the coast could solve the doubt and indecision which 
prevailed as to his proper course. He remained in a 
state of vacillation for two months at Orizaba. An at- 
tempt which he made at abdication was unsuccessful, as 
it embraced terms which were not acceptable to the 
commissioners who were sent to secure the document. 

The clericals in Mexico were in equal doubt as to 
the course which they should take. The fall of the em- 
pire meant the return of Juarez and his decrees. To 
avoid that, to them, dreadful result they rallied to the 
support of the emperor, and pledged financial aid. 
Miramon had returned to Mexico, and he and other 
Mexican ofiicers pledged themselves to raise an army of 
Mexicans sufficient in numbers to take the place of the 
retiring foreigners. I^etters of S3^mpathy were also re- 
ceived from Europe. Thus encouraged Maximillian re- 
turned to the capital. 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 197 

In Januar3\ 1867, the French troops began to retire 
from the country, and by March they had all embarked 
ior Europe. Bazaine himself was the last to take ship, 
and his last and most sensible act on Mexican soil was, 
to write a letter to Maximillian, urging him to abdicate 
and offering him transportation to Europe. But b}^ 
reason of matters connected with the collapse of the em- 
pire, Maximillian had ceased to have communication 
with the French commander. He had been flattered 
into the belief that the presence of the French troops 
was not necessar}'; and that he could not only supply 
the troops, but that he could also furnish a better com- 
mander than Bazaine. So, as the rear of the retiring 
army passed his palace, he turned to one of his retainers 
and said: "At last I am free." In the unique language 
of Marshal Neil; Maximillian had got him a horse, and 
was off to conquer his empire. 

By the withdrawal of the French army the few sol- 
diers at the emperor's command were inadequate to hold 
the whole country, so the contest ceased to be national 
and degenerated into a partisan one. It was the old 
struggle of the centralist or Church party against the re- 
public and the constitution which Juarez had fought to 
a finish in 1S60. Some personal favorites of the emperor 
among the Austrian and Belgian soldiers, together with 
a small body of French troops remained in Mexico. 

The work of organizing an army of native soldiers 
was pushed with energy, but the forces fell far short of 
the numbers pledged. Ignoring such skillful and" mag- 
netic generals as Miramon and others, Maximillian per- 
sonally assumed command of the arm5^ 

The spirit of sanguinary partisanship which always 
prevailed among armed Mexicans w-as greatly intensi- 



igS HISIORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

fied by some of the orders issued by the imperial com- 
mander. To Miramon, who held a subaltern command, 
he gave the order "to court-martial and sentence Juarez, 
I^erdo de Tejada, Iglesias, Garcia and Negrete, should 
he succeed in capturing them, but to defer their execu- 
tion until further special instructions. The same to ap- 
ply to all dissidents; to prisoners in arms no quarter is 
granted. ' ' This order furnished interesting reading to 
Juarez, into whose hands it fell soon after. 

Not only was there a failure in the matter of troops 
with which to fight the emperor's battles, but the nec- 
essary funds so lavishly promised by the Church were 
not forthcoming, and there was a woful want of money 
for the support of the empire. Inasmuch as the capital 
was deemed indefensible and the Church party was very 
strong at Queretaro, that place was selected as the im- 
perial headquarters. So, on the 19th of February, 1867, 
the imperial army was there concentrated. It consisted 
of 9,000 men, including 600 French troops, with thirty- 
nine pieces of artillery. When positions were taken, 
and the lines of defense and of offense were considered, 
it was pronounced by the emperor to be a "ratonera," 
or mouse trap. 

The foreign troops having vacated the country, the 
republican arrnies were able to concentrate around Que- 
retero; and after a siege of two months and a half, dur- 
ing which time the imperial army experienced all the 
horrors of famine incident to a total failure of supplies, 
the emperor determined to make a sortie, and escape to 
the mountains, and to adopt the same system of warfare 
which had been followed by the republican troops dur- 
ing the years of the French occupation. 

The time being fixed for the movement, one of the 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 199 

few Mexicans who had been near the emperor's person 
as a trusted favorite, traitorously visited the head- 
quarters of the republican army, and disclosed the plan. 
General Kscobedo, who commanded the republican 
forces, availed himself of the information, and placed a 
detail of his troops in position under the guidance of the 
traitor, and thus secured the headquarters of the em- 
peror. Though there was some fighting, the whole im- 
perial force was captured at daylight on the 15th of 
May, 1867. 

By this time Juarez had arrived at San lyuis Potosi, 
and there had his headquarters. From there he issued 
an order for the trial of the emperor and Generals Mira- 
mon and Mejia. A military court was convened under 
the decree of January 25, 1862, in which "all traitors 
and invaders of the country were condemned to the 
penalty of death." It consisted of a lieutenant-colonel 
and six captains. The court met at the theater Iturbide, 
in Queretaro, on the 13th of June. 

Maximillian was charged with treason, usurpation 
of imperial power with prolonging the civil war in 
Mexico, with signing and issuing his decree of October, 
3, 1865, and of arbitrarily disposing of the lives and liber- 
ties of Mexican citizens; and Miramon and Mejia were 
charged as accomplices. Maximillian being unwilling 
to endure the humiliation of public exposure, plead in- 
disposition and remained away from the court. The 
two generals were present and comported themselves 
with great dignity. 

An able defense was made, conducted by attornej's 
of skill and renown in which local, international and 
natural laws and usages were presented to the court 
together with logical arguments. But all was in vain. 



200 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

The decree of October and the execution of Arteaga and 
Salazar were too fresh and formidable arguments and 
illustrations of the. imperial policy to be overcome. 

The prosecution urged in the closing argument that 
as the emperor and his associates had been apprehended 
with arms in their hands, they should be tried and con- 
demned on the principles of the October decree; and as 
they had treated Arteaga and his comrade, so they, no 
more, no less, should be convicted and executed. 

On the 14th inst. the prisoners were found guilty 
as charged and were sentenced to death. General 
Escobedo approved the sentence, and after some delay 
as to the hour of execution, it was fixed for the morn- 
ing of the 19th. At 6 o'clock on the morning of that 
day the three condemned dignitaries were conducted in 
carriages, each accompanied by his confessor to the 
Cerro de las Campanas — Hill of the Bells — where a con- 
siderable force of troops was stationed to keep at a dis- 
tance the immense multitude which had assembled to 
witness the execution and who by their loud vivas ex- 
pressed their sympathy for the unfortunate victims. 

Maximillian yielded the place of honor — the center 
— to Miramon «,s a tribute to his bravery, himself 
taking the left of the line. He gave presents to his 
executioners, bidding them to aim at his body, not at 
his head, as he wished his mother to look upon his un- 
marred face. Addressing the soldiers and the surround- 
ing throng, he said: "Mexicans, I die for a just cause, 
the independence of Mexico. God grant that my blood 
may bring happiness to my new country. Viva 
Mexico!^* Miramon and Mejia joined with their " Viva 
Mexico!''' and the volley was fired. Miramon died in- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 201 ' 

stantly, but another discharge was required to execute 
the sentence upon Mejia and the emperor. 

Maximillian had pride as a soldier, and left as his 
last words to his mother, the one living person dearest 
to his heart, the motto: "Behold, as a soldier I have 
performed my duty. ' ' Prompted by a spirit of kindness, 
friends had given him the false information that his be- 
loved Carlote was dead, and he died in full faith and 
hope of meeting her immediately beyond the grave. 

When the finding of the court and the dreadful 
.sentence became known to the world, universal sym- 
pathy was excited, and from all directions were poured 
in solicitations for the pardon of the condemned emperor 
and generals. Representatives of foreign powers, in- 
cluding the United States, joined in the requests. Gari- 
baldi and Victor Hugo, from Europe, also asked 
clemency. 

But all was unavailing. The grim singleness of 
purpose that had made Juarez great and admirable in 
all of his past official history and that had caused him 
to hold the welfare of the state as supreme, to the dis- 
regard of personal interests, maintained control when 
mercy to the individual meant injustice to the common- 
wealth. 

Among the reasons given for the refusal were "that 
if Maximillian should live, his cause would also survive 
and give occasion for further foreign and domestic 
uprisings for his reinstatement; that it would establish 
a dangerous precedent and encourage foreign govern- 
ments again to interfere with Mexican affairs, dictate 
her policies and pursue the debt created by the inter- 
vention and the empire. The opportunity was now 
presented to make it clear that a republic could be 



202 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

establislied in Mexico with ability to manage its affairs 
with perfect independence and with sufficient national 
pride to aim a blow at the dogma of 'the divine right 
of kings,' making it effective by executing a member 
of one of the principal reigning families of Europe " 

The body of Maximillian was carefully embalmed 
and in due time taken to Austria, where it rests in the 
imperial vault in the Church of the Capuchins in the 
city of Trieste. 

When the imperial army was concentrated at 
Queretaro, there were besides that place only three 
centers of imperial power, Mexico, Puebla and Vera 
Cruz, In March General Diaz laid siege to Puebla, 
which he captured after a month of fighting. The City 
of Mexico was also captured by Diaz on the day after 
the execution of the emperor, and Vera Cruz sur- 
rendered on the 4th of July following. 

During the war of the intervention and the empire 
there had been about 1,000 battles and skirmishes. Of 
Mexicans 73,000 had been enrolled in the republican 
army and about 15,000 as imperialists. It is computed 
that, including foreign troops, no less than 40,000 lives 
were sacrificed on the altar of the ambition of Napoleon 
III., and in the vain efforts of the ecclesiastics to 
impose imperial rule and priestly dominion upon the 
Mexican nation. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



1867 TO 1872. 

Juarez Enters Capitai, — Welcome — Re-elected — 
Administration of Progress and Reform — 
Again Elected President — Dissatisfaction 
Appeased — Death of Juarez — Eulogy. 

^ ^ /^N THE the 15th of July, 1867, Juarez made his 

Vs / entrance into the City of Mexico; and on the 

same day issued a manifesto to the effect that 
during the four years of his absence from the capital he 
had done nothing contrary to the integrity or sovereignty 
of the republic, nor had he consented to any compro- 
mise prejudicial to the integrity of its dominions, and 
that in all respects he had sustained the laws and the 
constitution of the republic of Mexico. 

"When he entered the capital he was received b> a 
municipal representation, which expressed for the peo- 
ple of the city their gratitude for his scrupulous respect 
for the rights and goods of all persons; recognizing 
equally the moderation which he had shown during the 
war; a war w^iich had been distinguished until recently 
by repugnant abuses, levies, forced loans, extortions, 
and the inhuman slaughter of prisoners."* 

With the withdrawal of the foreign and the defeat 
of the native imperial armies, the president, not needing 
its services any longer, proceeded to reduce the army to 

*Historia de Mexico. 



204 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

a peace footing. This was not accomplished without 
serious opposition, as many wished to hold their offices 
and draw pay and subsistence from the government. 
But Juarez preferred the welfare of the country to the 
benefit of the individual; so he persisted successfully in 
the reduction. 

"The extraordinary powers with which the presi- 
deiit had been invested were exercised to promote pro- 
gress and the national welfare, such as the construction 
of railroads, the establishment of schools of jurisprud- 
ence, enginery, arts, mechanics and agriculture. The 
president took occasion to carry to the extreme of his 
authority reforms in reorganizing the various branches 
of the government. This was a hazardous task, as it 
was difficult to decide upon men for the various public 
posts who were qualified and worthy of confidence. ' ' 

In December, 1867, Juarez was elected president 
for the second time; and during this term there occurred 
frequent political disturbances, which in fact continued 
nearly to the end of his administration. Revolutions 
were begun in various states, and a grave insurrection 
took form in Yucatan. 

"At the beginning of 1868 the public insecurity 
took alarming proportions, and robberies and assassina- 
tions were quite frequent; but 1869 began under more 
favorable auspices. The liberal institutions were more 
firmly implanted; and the administration, being re- 
organized with better material, pulsated with vigor, and 
there was hope that there v^^ould be no more serious 
disturbances. But these hopes were futile; for seditions 
developed in Puebla and San I^uis Potosi. These 
were suppressed, and in October the public peace was 
promoted by a law of general amnesty." 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 205 

But the presidential election soon occurring was the 
occasion for disquiet. In that election Juarez received 
5,837 votes, Diaz 3,555, and I,erdo 5,874. Neither hav- 
ing a majority as required by the constitution, congress 
was called to make the selection. Juarez and lycrdo 
united their forces, and the former was duly announced 
as president. The partisans of Diaz claimed that fraud 
had been practised, and took up arms in revolt. Diaz, 
who had great regard for his old friend and compatriot 
Juarez, opposed the revolution and it was quieted; but 
not until many lives were sacrificed, among them that 
of General Felix Diaz, brother of Porfirio, a soldier who 
had gained victories and renown in the war with the 
French. 

In the midst of the conflict occurred the death of 
Juarez, who was attacked with cerebral fever in 1870, 
but who was then saved from death, although' he had a 
presentiment of his approaching end. So he published 
a manifesto to his friends, lamenting that he should not 
be permitted to live to complete the reconstruction of the 
affairs of the country. 

On the iSth of Jul}', 1872, the president retired to 
his house earlier than was usual with him, having the 
intention to pass a part of the next day in the grove at 
Chapultepec, where exercise jointly with a temperate 
bath generally contributed to restore him to a normal 
state of health. In the night he had an attack at the 
heart, and in spite of the ph3\sician's skill this grand 
man exhaled his last breath at 1 1 o'clock at night, sur- 
rounded by his family and friends. The sad event is 
thus chronicled in the history of Mexico: 

"The discharge of artillery proclaimed the minute 
in which the spirit of the great chief had flown. It pro- 



2o6 H2S7 OR Y OF 31EXICAN POLITICS, 

duced profound sentiments of sorrow among the inhabi- 
tants of the capital. Unanimously occurred to them his 
bravery and firmness as the standard bearer of the liber- 
ties of the country, his unconquerable faith in his mis- 
sion, and the many noble qualities of his head and of his 
heart. If he had at times invaded the rights of the na- 
tion, if he had broken the precepts of the constitution, 
the acts were attributable more to his counselors than to 
himself. He was a man who bore sarcasm and insult 
with admirable resignation, who never manifested malice 
against his opponents; nor was he ostentatious in his 
triumphs, nor harsh in his treatment of enemies, nor did 
he ever exhibit heart-burning rancor. He disdained to 
compromise. To traditional prejudices he had no attach- 
ment, and direct results were always the end and object 
of his political efforts. To his duties he gave a strict 
compliance. The tenacity of his purpose sustained the 
republic during the darkest epoch in the struggle with 
the French army, and thereby he was enabled also to 
maintain his own dignity. In his country's gratitude 
he has erected to his honor a monument more enduring 
than all the chiseled, engraved and embossed centotaphs 
of the monarchs of Europe; and although eternal night 
obscures his person, the acts and character of Juarez 
will endure forever, engraved on the pages of history 
and in the hearts of all Mexicans. "* 

The patriotism of Juarez was unquestioned and dis- 
interested. It embraced all the interests of the state. 
In the interest of the commonwealth he fought one of 
the world's greatest battles. The results of the victory 
which crowned that conflict will enure to the benefit of 
Mexico for all time. Such revolutions never go back- 

*Historia de Mexico. 



PROM CORTEZ 10 DTAZ. 207 

ward. In Mexico, as in Europe, liberty from the bonds 
of ecclesiasticism will prove to be perpetual. 

To select from the illustrious names which abound 
on the pages of Mexican history, that man whose life 
and whose character best exhibits the possibilities of- 
fered to youth of brain, honesty and industry, even in 
peculiar Mexico; who in early life was taught firmness 
and stability by the motionless snow-capped mountains, 
quietness and placidity by the lakes within the valleys, 
patriotism by the sorrows of his despoiled kindred, and 
ambition by the bright stars shining over his head while 
he watched his herds at night; the one whose life was a 
benediction; the one whose name is tenderly enshrined 
in every heart and lovingly voiced by every tongue; for 
such an one, go to the adobe hut, the home of the lowly 
Indian and select the child of poverty and orphanage, 
the youth of adversity and toil, the student of dilligence 
and promise, the man of virtue and integrity, the cham- 
pion of law and liberty, the emancipator of his nation 
from ecclesiasticism in politics — Benito Pablo Juarez. 

In the Pa7iteo7i de San Fernando a noble marble 
mausoleum marks the resting place of the I^incoln op 
Mexico. Upon a dais rests a sarcophagus containing 
his remains. On the top is his recumbent statue cold in 
death, over which a seraphim wnth over-shadowing 
wings stoops, and with sorrowful countenance and tear- 
ful eyes testifies a nations grief at the mortality of her 
noblest citizen — the grandest man in whose veins]ever 
coursed pure aboriginal blood. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



1S72 TO 1S7S. 

lyERDO President — Priest — Politics — Constitu- 
tion Amended — Anti-Church Reforms — Jesu- 

i its and Sisters "Go" — Lerdo's Ambition — 
Eeected President — Counted In and Out — 
Revolution — Diaz — Iglesius Assumed Presi-^ 
dency — Diaz's Revolution Successful — Diaz 
Provisional President — Three Presidents — 
Diaz Wins. 

UPON tlie death of Juarez, Sebastian Lerdo, who was 
at that time president of the supreme court, suc- 
ceeded to the presidency. He immediately took 
the oath of office and entered upon the discharge of his 
duties. He had been in the cabinet of Juarez as 
minister of relations, and with a friendship and tenacity 
greatly to be commended, had adhered to the president 
and shared his defeats and triumphs through the years 
of the intervention and the empire, and was in full 
sympathy with the work of reform. He first served as 
president ad interim, but on the i6th of December, 1872, 
congress duly elected him to serve the unexpired term 
of the deceased Juarez. 

Lerdo had been educated for the priesthood, but 
after graduating he abandoned the clerical profession 
and adopted that of law. This vacillation was not the 
result of any defect in his character, for he was a man 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 209 

who had sterling qualities and could dominate others. 
But his patriotism and his knowledge of the grievous 
wrongs inflicted upon the people by the indulgence of 
their greed for power and money on the part of the 
clergy caused him to adopt his new profession and also 
to enter the political arena where he could more eftectu- 
ally render assistance to Juarez and other reformers 
in the struggle between Church and state as a partisan 
of the liberal school. 

With the fall of "Maximillian and the empire came 
also the fall of centralism, and although Juarez did not 
live to see the regeneration of the country in all its full- 
ness, it came in due time. 

By article 127 of the constitution of 1857, all 
amendments to the same were to be adopted by a two- 
thirds vote of congress and then ratified by a majority 
of the state legislatures. Processes had been com- 
menr:ed during the life of Juarez which were completed 
in the time of Lerdo, who on September 25, 1873, by 
his official signature and proclamation gave full effect 
and authority to constitutional reforms which had been 
foreshadowed in the decree of Juarez, issued in July, 
1859, at Vera Cruz. 

By these amendments there was an absolute separa- 
tion of Church and state, and moreover congress was 
prohibited from passing any law either favoring or pro- 
hibiting any religion. Matrimony was declared to be a 
civil contract, and the performance of the ceremony was 
devolved upon the civil authorities. Religious corpora- 
tions were prohibited from owning real estate or receiv- 
ing any revenues from the same, excepting the ground 
actually required to continue their legitimate business. 
All oaths were abolished and in their place a simple 



2 lo HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

promise to perform duty faithfully, or in the case of 
witnesses, "to tell the truth" was substituted. All 
religious orders were disbanded, no obligation to a 
monastic or other religious order was to be permitted, 
and all who had taken an oath or entered into obliga- 
tion to perform any service of a religious nature were 
absolved from such oath or obligation. 

By these amendments, and because of other clauses 
in the constitution no one connected with ecclesiasticism 
is eligible to the office of deputy in congress, president 
of the supreme court or president of the republic. By 
their tenor and construction there is not in all Mexico a 
society of Jesuits, Monks, Nuns or Sisters of Charity; 
and there are no convents, religious orders nor priest- 
making schools. 

The Church had allied itself with Iturbide, with 
Centralism, with Santa Anna, with Zuloaga and Mira- 
nion, and finally with the invasion of the French and 
the empire of Maximillian in their determined and 
sanguinary efforts to maintain control of the govern- 
ment and the wealth of the country. Each and every 
one of them had failed, and in the reaction the Church 
and clergy lost rights and privileges in Mexico which 
they have in other civilized countries. 

The radical principles incorporated in the constitu- 
tion and the liberal measures introduced into the bill of 
rights growing out of the same developed marked 
opposition on the part of the clergy, and inspired by ex- 
communications and anathemas launched from the 
Vatican, the ignorant Indians prepared to take up arms. 

In 1874 the Jesuits, feeling the effects of the new 
order of things, resisted and displaj^ed great energy to 
stir up the fires of fanaticism because of the coming of 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. ' 211 

Protestants into the country and the enforcement of the 
reforms of the constitution; but they fell before a vigor- 
ous prosecution of the law, and the reaction of justice 
also carried down all religious orders, including the 
Sisters of Charity, which had been tolerated up to that 
time. 

All of the societies were disbanded, and the mem- 
bers who did not avail themselves of the provisions of 
the constitution absolving them from their obligations, 
were banished from the country. The traveler in 
Mexico to-day fails to see upon the streets and else- 
where the black dress and costume so familiar in the 
United States. This will continue until the constitu- 
tion is amended or ignored. Under the tolerance 
granted to all religions, many Protestant churches 
immediately established their missions in the City of 
Mexico and elsewhere, and these are sustained with 
increase of numbers and influence in spite of the Catho- 
lic crusade against them; and so it will continue until 
the constitution giving this religious liberty is amended 
or ignored. But there is scarcely a possibility of an 
ecclesiastical reaction to that end. 

The beginning of the administration of I^erdo was 
marked as a very stormy one. Revolutions broke out 
in the north which embraced several states. These 
were suppressed by government troops, and the leaders 
were executed. After this, for two years and a half, the 
government had little opposition. 

The president exhibited signs of following in the 
footsteps of Santa Anna, in that he adopted measures 
regarding the states and their rights of a decided dicta- 
torial nature. He had a great desire to perpetuate his 
power, and in 1874 exhibited ambition to be re-elected 



212 ^ HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

to the presidency. To prepare the way he issued a 
decree on May i8th, in which he declared that the 
electoral college alone should decide the result of the 
vote for president, thus taking a constitutional right 
away from the supreme court. A controversy immedi- 
ately arose which involved the judge of that court and 
many statesmen in different parts of the country. 

Peace had prevailed for an unusually long period, 
but it was broken in January, 1876, by General Her.- 
nandez, who pronounced against the government and 
proclaimed General Diaz chief of the revolutionary 
forces. 

On the 22d of March Diaz accepted the office, and 
in a manifesto declared that Mexico had been badly 
governed by I^erdo, that the laws and the constitution 
had been subverted, that the right of suffrage had been 
abolished, that elections were corruptly controlled by 
the president as dictator, that the courts of justice had 
been subordinated and corrupted, moreover that he was 
resolved to overthrow the government of I^erdo and his 
ministers and to place the country under a provisional 
executive, who should be named by the governors of 
the states that accepted the plan. 

Diaz began his military operations in Northern 
Mexico, but his success not being as great as he de- 
sired, he went to New Orleans, thence to Vera Cruz and 
finally to Oaxaca in the south, where he raised a suffi- 
cient force to meet the government troops put in the 
field by lycrdo. 

While these movements were taking place the elec- 
tion for president occurred on the 26th of October, 1876, 
and lycrdo was elected. But the methods and proc- -ses 
were apparently so marked by fraud that the chief 



FROM CORTEZ 10 DIAZ. 213 

justice of the supreme court, Jose Maria Iglesias 
promptly but secretly went to the capital and declared 
the election fraudulent and void. 

By this act and decision L,erdo was formally de- 
posed. The constitution provided that in case the 
president of the republic should be deposed, or in any 
other manner become incapacitated to perform the 
duties of his office then, and in that case the chief 
justice of the supreme court should become president. 
Under these facts and laws Iglesias claimed to be the 
legal and constitutional president. In Guanajuato he 
took the oath of office, appointed his cabinet and set up 
his administration. He also organized an army. 

On the 15th of November Diaz with his forces met 
the government troops under command of General 
Altorre at Tecoac, and gained a signal victory. He 
.secured re-enforcements and moved upon the capital, 
lycrdo took alarm and on the 20th inst. left the capital, 
went to Acapulco and without formally resigning the 
presidency, took passage for the United States and 
located in New York city, where he remained until the 
day of his death. From there he occasionally issued 
orders and asserted his authority as president. 

Diaz entered the capital on the 23d of the month 
and was received with flattering demonstrations of 
welcome, and five days afterwards was installed as 
provisional president on the principles of his published 
plan. 

Mexico now had three presidents, each of them 
with adherents. Diaz placed General Mendez in the 
executive chair temporarily, while with an army he 
moved against Iglesias, who had been joined by many 
of I^erdo's troops. Without the sheddinggpf blood Diaz 



2 J 4 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

had a complete victory and returned to the capital, 
Iglesias having followed the example of Lerdo and 
taken refuge in the United States, making New Orleans 
his place of rest. For a time he also issued presidential 
orders, but becoming convinced that his cause was 
hopeless, he returned to Mexico and to private life on 
•his good behavior. 

The campaign for the pacification of the country by 
the suppression of the Iglesias forces commenced in 
December and ended in February. During that time 
state after state and army after army joined the revolu- 
tion, and the march of Diaz through the country was a 
constant and complete triumph. On the 15th of Febru- 
ary at the capital he relieved his substitute, General 
Mendez, and began his administration. By this time 
the states of the south, the east, the west and the center 
had allied themselves with the cause of Diaz, and only 
in the farthest north was there municipal opposition. 

Still there were many statesmen and patriots who 
opposed revolutions on principle. They had passed 
through many of them and had witnessed that the suc- 
cessful revolutionist often made his administration a 
personal one. With the career and character of Santa 
Anna fresh in their memories, many feared that Diaz 
might mar all the good work and retard the progress 
accomplished and secured by the constitution of 1857, 
with its benefits acquired at the cost of so much blood. 

Diaz considered it necessary to quiet the public 
apprehensions. He therefore published a special circu- 
lar in which he pledged himself to comply with the 
promises set forth in his plan, upon principles liberal 
and progressive, to sustain the guarantees and to pro- 
mote all needed reforms; and that he would not permit 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIA-Z, 215 

anything of a partisan nature to hinder his efforts to 
promote the national welfare. That such grand ends 
might be secured, he asked the co-operation of men of 
all parties and solicited them to aid him with their 
views, wisdom and influence. 

This policy which was so different from that trf 
lycrdo, who was an egotist and an exctusiveist, pro- 
duced a good effect and captured the popular favor. 

An election for president and deputies to cougrese 
was ordered, and Diaz as provisional president t^(!|^' 
care that no frauds were perpetrated. Congress met in 
April, 1877, and the utmost harmony and good feeling 
prevailed. One month afterwards the election of Diaz 
was formally announced, he having had an almost 
unanimous vote from 200 districts. The people had 
openly elected their champion, having confidence in his 
patriotism and ability. At the election it was decided 
that the term of office began on the ist of December, 
1876, and ended November 30, 1880. 

Opposed as he always was to all ostentation, Diaz 
entered into the office with the most simple forms possi- 
ble. Moreover, to the great surprise of all, he refused, 
as did also his substitute, Mendez, all compensation for 
services rendered during the provisiojial term. The 
partisans of Lerdo, with an army commanded by Gen- 
eral Escobedo, made some efforts to maintain the 
struggle in the northern states, b'ut without much effect 
upon the general welfare or the progress of the country, 
and with the capture of the general in June, 1878, and 
the dispersal of his forces in August, and with the paci- 
fication of Alvarez in the e^rtreme south the country 
was freed from armed malcontents. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



1878 TO 1880. 

Biography of Diaz — Success as President — Re- 
forms IN AivL Departments — Justice — Courts- 
Army — P01.1CE — DiPivOMATic — Declines Re- 
election. 

PORFIRIO DIAZ was born in Oaxaca on the glori- 
ous anniversary of Mexican independence, Sep- 
tember 15,1 830, just twenty j^ears after Hidalgo had 
raised "Kl grito de dolores," on the night of that date. 
His parentage was' of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, 
with a preponderance of Spanish. His father was a man 
of good business capacity, having amassed quite a 
fortune. He was also distinguished as a revolutionist, 
and was a captain in the army, having been commis- 
sioned by General Guerrero. His death by cholera took 
place in 1833, and the mother was left to care for her 
three children. She was a woman of unusual capacity, 
being much superior to the woman of the times. Porfi- 
rio inherited from his parents many noble qualities, and 
the mother's great care and personal instructions added 
to his excellent impulses of head and heart, so that they 
were never abridged by any neglect on her part. 

The country at that time was in a constant state of 
war, and the property of the family depreciated in value 
so that the mother had difficulty in maintaining and 
educating her children. Porfirio was placed in school 




PORFIRIO DIAZ, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO. 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 217 

to be educated for the priesthood, as there was a heredi- 
tary chaplaincy among the family assets, and it was the 
wish of the dying father that his eldest son should be- 
come an ecclesiastic. The youthful Diaz made unusual 
proficiency in his studies, and held a high rank at ex- 
aminations. 

At the age of fourteen he was personally present^ 
to Benito Juarez, who was governor of the state of 
Oaxaca, and as such governor visited the school in 
which Diaz was a student, for the purpose of distribut- 
ing the premiums. The address of the governor was so 
marked with patriotism that Diaz was charmed. 

In a private conversation with Juarez, had after- 
wards, the governor spoke of the ills which the country 
had suffered at the hands of the Spaniards, and the bad 
effects of ill-advised efforts to force the methods of Spain 
and her religion upon the Indians by the use of arms, 
with such clearness that the young student had his mind 
opened, and saw things in such anew and forcible light 
that he scarcely slept that night. A friendship grew up 
between Juarez and Diaz, which lasted until the death 
of the former, and was mutually profitable. 

Diaz had been reared in a time of war, and while 
yet a child formed and commanded companies of boys; 
and their juvenile battles were not always without 
bloody results, as the noses and heads of the young com- 
batants would sometimes testify. When he was seven- 
teen years of age the martial spirit of the country wa^r 
excited, and troops were organized to resist the Ameri- 
cans, who under Generals Taylor and Scott had con- 
quered and occupied the country. Diaz and his fellow 
students took it upon themselves to form a military 
force, whose object was to drive out the invaders. 



2i8 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

They proffered their services to the governor of their 
state, who quietly but proudly laid the written offer 
away, feeling assured that such valiant youth would 
some day serve well the country which had the honor to 
call them her children. Diaz passed his course of studies 
with honor, and at the age of eighteen was proposed by 
the prelate in charge for his first orders and priestly 
vesture. To his suprise and grief, the prospective priest 
announced his determination to abandon the ecclesiasti- 
cal and to adopt the legal profession. So the prelate 
vehemently chided him for his folly, and in no flattering 
manner reminded him of his poverty. 

A friend, who had in some sense been his patron 
and financial assistant, added* to the reproof, and per- 
emptorily forbade him again to enter his house. The 
tears of his mother, while they touched his heart and 
prompted anew his ambition to achieve a name and to 
secure means for her relief, yet failed to change his 
plans. He entered the law office of his friend Juarez, 
who was associated in business with another of his 
friends, the patriot Perez, where with such assistance as. 
was secured by his own efforts as a teacher he found 
himself on the road to distinction and independence, 
while yet a youth. 

Having selected his own course, he pursued it until 
he reached the high office of president, and while on his 
journey to that exalted and responsible position, as well 
as while there, he was able to deliver many well directed 
and effective blows to the destruction of the political 
power of the clergy, and to render very valuable assist- 
ance to Juarez in his war upon the ' ' Church in Politics. ' ' 
His aid greatly accelerated the separation of Church and 
state and secured the reforms whose enactment preceded 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 219 

his entrance into that executive power, which he always 
administered with a spirit fully consistent with the wel- 
fare of the country. 

While Diaz was pursing his studies Santa Anna re- 
turned to the country as president in 1853. Soon after 
Juarez was arrested for political offenses and deported to 
Cuba, and Perez his partner, and the friend of Diaz, 
was arrested and imprisoned in the convent of Santo 
Domingo. The young patriot Diaz and his brother 
Felix, at the risk of their lives, availing themselves of 
the favor of a dark and stormy night, scaled the walls 
of the convent and liberated Perez. 

Soon after, when Santa Anna held the election 
which was to ascertain the will of the people as to the 
continuance of his dictatorial powers, such frauds were 
perpetrated that Diaz openly denounced the scheme and 
the processes; thereby securing for himself an order of 
arrest and death. Having knowledge thereof, he and a 
companion made their escape to a friendly guerrilla 
force in the mountains, of which Diaz soon became 
captain, and while in command he attacked and de- 
feated a force of Santa Anna's soldiers in the neighbor- 
hood. This developed his military genius and com- 
mitted him to a life of arms. He raised and successfully 
commanded troops in the interest of the liberal cause 
against Santa Anna, in favor of Alvarez and Comon- 
fort; and when Juarez was in contest with Zuloaga and 
Miramon he was the armed ally of Juarez; and after- 
wards, when the Church party secured the interventio^i 
of Napoleon, and during the reign of Maximillian, Diaz 
was always found fighting for the liberal and constitu- 
tional cause. He had command of Oaxaca and the 
south, and frequently of all the east; and when Juarez 



220 HlSl OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

was compelled to retire to El Paso during tire occupa- 
tion of the country by the French, Diaz was left in com- 
mand of two-thirds of the entire country with unlimited 
power to raise, equip, and command troops in the in- 
terest of the president and the constitution. 

He fought at Puebla with great distinction and 
ability on the memorable 5th of May, 1862, where the 
French were defeated. He again joined Ortega, and in 
resisting the combined armies in 1863 at the same place 
was wounded, and was among the prisoners there cap- 
tured. He made his escape, raised and commanded 
other troops, was appointed commander-in-chief by 
Juarez, and finally defeated the allied armies of Puebla, 
and also recaptured the capital after the withdrawal of 
the French troops, and held it for the occupation of 
Juarez when his government was finally triumphant at 
Queretaro. 

That was a meeting of no ordinary character, when 
the distinguished general and the unconquerable presi- 
dent met in the capital, each with his distinct honors 
resting proudly and gloriously upon him, the student of 
former years, now the successful soldier, and the gover- 
nor-preceptor, now the unchallenged president and 
world-renowned statesman and reformer, to whom the 
destines of Mexico were fully committed. Through un- 
counted trials and battles each had faithfully pursued 
his course, until now in peace and triumph they meet 
again, to renew more fully the confidences and friend- 
ships begun so long ago in the school iri Oaxaca. 

While in the field and at intervals oXquiet and in- 
action in military affairs, Diaz had pursued his studies; 
and while yet an active soldier he received his degree as 
advocate, having fully qualified himself in all the de- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 221 

partments of study. It had been previously tendered 
him because of his many good qualities and distinctions, 
but he refused it until properly entitled thereto. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Porfirio Diaz had be- 
come the supreme magistrate of Mexico by force of arms; 
and as the end and result of revolution, it became a con- 
viction widespread among the people as his administra- 
tion proceeded, that it was not merely to gratify a per- 
sonal ambition that he took part in the revolution, and 
pressed it with his usual skill and energy to a success- 
ful conclusion. He had been too much of a patriot and 
statesmen, as well as a courageous and self-sacrificing 
soldier, to look with complacence and approval upon the 
abuse of power and disregard of the constitution and 
laws manifested in the administration of Lerdo. 

Having attained the high and very responsible posi- 
tion of president, he pursued a course of reform in the 
details of official life which resulted in a better civil ser- 
vice. He surrounded himself with the most able coun- 
selors, without regard to creed, politics or religion; and 
under auspices so noble the better part of the citizen- 
ship became united to support his administration, losing 
for the time all* party names; so that the terms "porfir- 
ists," "lerdists," and "conservators" disappeared, and 
men of influence and ability everywhere gave a hearty 
support to the president in the work which purified 
official life and secured the advancement of the country. 

Though in distant parts of the commonwealth there 
were those whose profession and interest it was and had 
been to commence and maintain revolutions and law- 
lessness, the wise and patriotic efforts of the administra- 
tion to effect their pacification and overthrow were so 
successful that after the first year of Diaz's administra- 



222 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

tion, it was indisputable that the country enjoyed 
greater repose than in any previous period of the 
national life. 

The clergy had become somewhat reconciled to the 
enforcement and effects of the new order of things, 
which they had vainly opposed. Their political schemes 
and their financial efforts to uphold the revolution of 
Zuloaga and Miramon, the intervention of Napoleon 
III., and the empire of Maximillian, had not stemmed 
the tide of reform; and though they persecuted, they 
could not prevent Protestants from entering into the new 
fields of Mexico so recently opened to their missions. 
So the ecclesiastical party gave Diaz little trouble; and 
as he treated them with the consideration due to their 
religious profession, a very friendly feeling grew up on 
the part of the clergy toward the government. The 
government of Diaz was a strong one in the matters of 
military power, of conciliation, of devotion to the public 
welfare, of regard for the constitution and laws, and in 
the rights of congress and the state governments. His 
administration was in all things the opposite to that of 
Santa Anna. 

Inasmuch as there were many soldiers who had 
fought for the constitution of 1857 against native and 
foreign armies, and many who had sustained the revo- 
lution also, who were suffering from wounds and disa- 
bilities, and as there were many widows and orphans of 
the martyrs who had fallen in those wars, it became the 
joy as well as the duty of Diaz to provide for their wel- 
fare and support by a liberal system of pensions. He 
also caused the issue of medals of honor to patriots who 
had rendered military services, which, all things being 
equal, entitled them to preference over others in posi- 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 223 

tions of profit, honor and trust in the government which 
they had successfuly maintained at the mouth of the 
cannon en the field of battle. 

For* the protection of the peace, and to secure the 
safety of the country against robbers and bandits, a 
system of rural guards was established, wherein many 
of the patriot soldiery found position and service. The 
diplomatic corps was purified, and new treaties were 
made with other nations, and many old ones were re- 
vised, whereby advantages were secured and abuses 
were corrected, all to the welfare of the commonwealth. 

To all these beneficient and patriotic acts was added 
a wise and progressive system of education. Encourage- 
ment was given to business enterprises, whereby the 
country was placed on the highway of prosperity. 
Facilities for transportation by railroads and interior 
canals were provided, and subsidies were judiciously 
granted to steamship lines, which aided much in the 
upbuilding of domestic and foreign commerce. 

That the country might receive all the revenues 
arising from external commerce and importations, a 
very extensive system of frauds upon the customs which 
had grown up by the neglect and indifference of previ- 
ous administrations, whereby millions of dollars had 
been lost to the treasur}^ was broken up and corrected. 
Thus all departments of service and all sources of reve- 
nue were placed in a high degree of perfection in the 
interest of the Mexican people. 

The department of justice was also investigated 
with salutary results. Under feeble and corrupt laws 
and rules of practice, abuses had grown up, so that 
criminals escaped the penalties due their offenses, and 
the legal processes were often made to advance, rather 



224 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS,, 

than suppress crime, which had taken terrible propor- 
tions. This state of moral turpitude was very much 
favored by the civil wars and disorders which had so 
generally prevailed, and by distinctions of class. It had 
also been much encouraged and increased by the ease 
and facility with which absolution for all kinds of crime 
could be obtained from the clergy. 

President Diaz made effort to put a stop to this 
lawlessness by the administration of prompt and strict 
justice; and to that end he established penitentiaries, 
and actively prosecuted and punished all violators of 
law, without benefit of clergy. He reorganized the 
police system throughout the cities, and organized a 
system of rural guards in the country districts, and so 
impressed even the old bandits with the rights and 
terrors of the government and the law that they enlisted 
in the cause of justice, and became valuable and faith- 
ful conservators of peace, of law and of order. Diaz em- 
ployed one thief to suppress and capture other thieves, 
making it to their interest so to do. 

It is said that on one occasion, when Diaz was en- 
joying the relaxation of a hunting trip, he entered the 
house of a native, where he saw some rats imprisoned in a 
box. The president inquired why they were thus con- 
fined, and if they were intended to be used as food? The 
answer was, that they were not intended to be used as 
an addition to the meat food of the family, but as rat ex- 
terminators. ' ' How so?' ' said the interlocutor. " Well, ' ' 
said the ranchero, "we keep the rats until they are 
nearly starved, then we turn them loose, and in their 
famished condition they eagerly seize upon the first rat 
which they find, and ravenously devour him; this de- 
velops an appetite on their part for rat meat, which they 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 225 

gratify by pursuing and devouring their fellows as long 
as there are any in and about the premises. Thus we 
use one rat to catch other rats, and so rid our premises 
of them all." 

The president was at that time greatly exercised 
and annoyed by the number and extent of robberies and 
other outrages committed by bandits throughout the 
entire country. The thought occurred to try their ex- 
termination on the rat plan. It was plausible and ap- 
parently feasible, and so he sent a confidential agent to 
the chief of a notorious gang of outlaws, and with 
promise of personal safety induced him to come to a con- 
ference at the executive office- 

The result was the organization of the "rural 
guards," as a special corps of semi-military, semi-civil 
conservators of law and order, which was commanded 
by the outlaw chief himself, and was composed in part 
of all the bandits in the country. They were clothed, 
armed, equipped, mounted, subsisted and paid on such 
a liberal scale that they found it profitable to keep the 
peace of the country themselves, and to enforce order 
even among their old comrades in all parts of the land. 
Their knowledge of the roads and recesses of the country 
enabled them to hunt down promptly and secure the ar- 
rest and punishment of offenders, so that Mexico has 
become as secure a country for travel as any other of 
civilized time or history; with all these reforms there 
ensued a reign of peace, order, and security hitherto un- 
known in the republic. 

Under the direction of Diaz, the laws of Mexico 
were codified for the first time. Previously they had 
been, a confused mixture of loose and contradictory de- 
crees from <;olonial times, with subsequent additions of 



226 HlSl OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

tlie same style. He also reformed the irregular modes 
of proceedure, which in many cases was suspiciously 
secret. The judicial system was remodeled, and courts 
of inferior and superior jurisdiction were established, so 
that law, order, and system took the place of the dis- 
order and uncertainty which had so long prevailed. 

As to his relation to the cult of the times, Diaz 
was strict with respect to the exercise of individual 
opinions and creeds. Though he was very little im- 
bued personally with faith in religious dogmas, being 
quite liberal, even, it is said, to agnosticism, yet he con- 
ceded to all perfect liberty of thought and the full enjoy- 
ment of their rights and devotions, to be exercised in 
the form and manner to which they had been accustomed. 
And this is the reason why he had numerous friends 
and followers in the clerical party, for they knew that 
he would protect them against all exactions which 
passed the limits fixed by the laws of reform. 

One of the principal causes of political intrigues 
which led to revolution and anarchy was the desire of a 
president to succeed himself in ofiice. That this temp- 
tation should be removed the constitution was amended 
on May 5, 1878, by adding an article which prohibited 
the election of presidents and governors of states for 
consecutive periods. In spite of this, on the approach 
of the time for election in 1880, various states united in 
a movement to continue the executive power in the 
hands of a man so eminently qualified to promote the 
interests of the commonwealth, and to avoid exposing 
the country to the peril of reaction under a chief less apt 
and honorable. But Diaz remained firm in the promises 
and pledges he had given, to obey the law. Therefore 
he positively declined a re-election. 



CHAPTER XX. 



1880 TO 1894. 

Gonzalez Ppesident — Policies — Clerical and 
Jesuitical Lawlessness — The Law SuvSTained 
— Diaz President — Resume op Executive 
Powers — Duties Well Performed — Mexico 
Has Peace and Prosperity — Diaz Has Three 
Continuous Terms — General Statements as 
to the Rights and Hopes of the Country. 

AMONG the aspirants for the presidency to succeed 
Diaz was General Manuel Gonzalez, first military- 
officer of the government who had been the able 
assistant of General Diaz in some of his campaigns, and 
who by his opportune arrival on the field at Tecoac, had 
greatly contributed to the victory at that battle, and had 
lost his good right arm in the service of his country. 
He had the support of the friends of Diaz in his candi- 
dacy and in due time congress announced his election. 
He was inaugurated on the ist of December, 1880. 

He received the country in a state of perfect peace 
and in a career of prosperity unexampled in the history 
of the commonwealth, and it is worthy of note that no 
important rovolutions occurred during his entire term. 
Still there were local disturbances in some cities and 
districts where the Catholics stirred up the fires of 
fanaticism because of the establishment of churches and 
schools by the Protestants; but the protection guaranteed 



228 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

to them by the laws and the coustitution was promptly 
and effectually given by the officers of the law, and the 
schools and missions were continued. 

This absence of revolution and the feeble and in- 
effectual attempt at ecclesiastical persecution was a clear 
demonstration of the peace of the country and of the 
supremacy of the state over the church, and that the 
clergy were learning to appreciate and respect the new 
order of things in progressive Mexico. 

To assist in the administration of affairs Diaz 
accepted a portfolio in the cabinet of Gonzalez for a short 
time, and by his aid the peace and development of the 
country continued. Some new business enterprises 
were commenced and others continued, but many citi- 
zens became hostile to the administration for real or 
fancied errors in the matter and manner of conducting 
the treasury department, but Gonzalez maintained his 
policies until the close of his term, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Diaz, who had a vote of 15,969 out of a total 
of 16,462. 

On the I St of December 1884, Diaz was inaugurated 
president for the second time. Dressed sensibly in 
black and escorted by a small guard he appeared in the 
national palace and in the presence of senators, deputies, 
public functionaries and the diplomatic corps, took the 
oath of office and retired as tranquilly as he had entered. 
Upon him devolved special duties and obligations, in 
some measure arising from the embarassed condition of 
the finances, that chronic complaint of Mexico; but he 
so applied himself to the work that order took the place 
of confusion, the credit of the nation appreciated with 
rapidity and her finances became greatly relieved. 

Notwithstanding the limitations of the constitution 



FROM CORTEZ TO DTAZ. 229 

the president of Mexico is possessed of great power 
whereby he can make or mar the welfare of the country. 
His control of the army and his right to appoint chiefs 
and to remove them greatly exceeds the power vested 
in the president of the United States. His control of 
cabinet officers is very great, and his right to name 
officers of the diplomatic corps is full and ample. His 
power in treaty-making and also in levying tariff duties 
exceeds that of any other national executive. The 
establishment of custom houses is largely discretionary 
with him, as is also the right to open or close ports. He 
has also ample pardoning power. Add to this a de- 
cided influence in the greater part of the states by 
measures of supervising their elections and substantially 
of naming their governors, his military dispositions and 
his supervision of the public peace by direct action of 
independent representatives in all parts of the country, 
that the army is entirely under his view as chief, 
and his ability to direct its movements, nominate offi- 
cers and regulate to a certain point its pay and accom- 
modations, and the power of the president will be seen 
to attain vast proportions. 

But so wisely had Diaz fulfilled his duties and ex- 
ercised his discretionary powers that in his second term 
that part of the constitution which forbade the re-elec- 
tion of presidents for consecutive terms was rescinded, 
and thus privileged, the people of Mexico have kept 
him in the office of chief executive for three continuous 
terms, his last being for a tenure ending in 1896. Under 
his most excellent administration the country is more 
secure from revolution and strife and enjo^^s more the 
confidence of foreign nations as to its stability and 



230 HIS'IORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

permanence than ever before since it became an inde- 
pendent nation. 

With peace and security, capital and enterprise, 
have become emboldened to seek a place of investment 
and action and under the inspiring genius and the 
directing hand of the president, new resources have 
been developed and new methods of business adopted 
in agriculture, mining, manufacturing and transporta- 
tion, which under the benign influence of peace and 
security, have only to contend with the laws of trade 
and competition, instead of the bandit and the revolu- 
tionist of a few years ago. From being a nation at war 
within itself and against itself, it has ceased all warlike 
strife. From being the field where ambitious and un- 
scrupulous politicians elevated themselves at the ex- 
pense of the blood and treasure of the people, it has 
become the land of self-sacrificing public servants w'tia 
care for the elevation of their fellow-citizens and of tiie 
commonwealth. 

The military spirit of the citizen has been direct-o 
to the maintainance of the public peace, and Individ lial 
security, instead of being prostituted to the overthrow 
of the government and the elevation of political aspi- 
rants, which had been the case from the era of iaii^" 
pendence until the era of reform. 

Since the separation of church and state educadan 
has made vast strides in Mexico. Her statesmen ha / ^ 
recognized the fact that the stability of the republic 
depends upon the enlightenment of the masses, and the 
trend of legislation has been constantly in the right 
direction. In proportion to her financial ability Mexico 
is fostering popular education, and in her toieralion oi 
foreign instructors and schools shows tlia!: liberty c£ 



FROM C0R7EZ TO DIAZ. 231 

conscience is becoming more and more a fact, and that 
fanaticism is giving place to enlightened love of liberty 
and truth. 

The advance in these directions for the past twenty- 
years is most gratifying, and more has been accomp- 
lished along those lines during these years than in all 
the previous years of Mexican history. There are free 
schools wherever there is sufficient population, and 
attendance under certain conditions is compulsory. 
The Church no longer has any supervision and its 
interference, even to the slightest degree, would not be 
tolerated and no clergyman is allowed upon any of the 
boards of public instruction. 

No public interest has claimed more attention from 
President Diaz than the school system, and under his 
direction surprising and gratifying progress has been 
made. System prevails and all departments are for- 
warded with public funds, private contributions and 
personal encouragement. 

The experience of the nation has demonstrated the 
wisdom of the separation of church and state. The 
Church has had opportunity to attain a degree of purity 
since divested of its great possessions, and since de- 
prived of its political power, and the state has become 
stronger since becoming free from ecclesiastical inter- 
ference. Experience has also demonstrated the wisdom 
of having the state assume the control of education, 
the providing by law for asylums, hospitals and sana- 
tariums and assigning to the Church solely its spiritual 
functions; and it has been found that each interest thus 
assigned has received greater care and consideration. 

Mexico is a republic in a limited sense only. The 
word "republic" signifies a government of the people 



232 HlSl OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

in which the sovereign power is delegated to the hands 
of representatives elected by the masses. In reality- 
Mexico is a confederation of states governed by an 
aristocracy, a government which approximates an 
autocracy, but without the hereditary feature attached. 
In view of the tendency of an appeal from the ballot 
box to the field of battle on the part of defeated candi- 
dates when two or more parties had contended for popu- 
lar favor, it has been considered wise and as providing 
for the public peace to restrict the forming of distinct 
and contending political parties. 

Therefore the government perpetuates itself by con- 
centrating into one party, as far as possible, all who have 
talent as statesmen and all who are of high order in the 
army. A judicious censorship of the press is also 
exercised, and thus the welfare of the country is re- 
tained in the hands of the few. No public meetings of 
political character are permitted, and no public dis- 
cussion of the principles or methods of the administra- 
tion can therefore be tolerated. 

Daily a telegraphic dispatch is received at adminis- 
tration headquarters from all parts of the country re- 
porting the condition of each locality as to political or 
criminal disturbance, and from the government prompt 
instructions are given to correct wrongs with the force 
at hand if sufl&cient. If necessary re- enforcements can 
be ordered to aid the civil and military powers, and 
thus by prompt action outbreaks are suppressed. The 
president thus has his hand upon the public pulse at all 
times. 

The population of Mexico is estimated at 12,000,000, 
audit is probable, considering the lack of education, 
the want of social organization and the poverty and lack 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ, 233 

of business qualifications and Iiabits of the people, that 
less than one-fourth of them are represented at a post- 
ofiice to send or receive letters. Three-quarters of the 
people are Indians, or intimately related to them in 
mixture of blood, and as a class are such as in the 
United States would not be allowed to exercise the 
elective franchise. 

It is claimed by Mexican statesmen that universal 
suffrage without discrimination is unjust; that to give 
the elective franchise to a population who are incapable 
of making a wise use of it is absurd; that to give the 
humble, ignorant negro or peon, who is scarcely re- 
moved from the conditions of slavitude, an equal voice 
in national affairs with an educated man of the middle 
class, who is a master of business or a thinker, is evi- 
dently an injustice; and to concede an equal participa- 
tion in politics to the vicious ragamuffin beggar — who is 
asking charity, who has no occupation and nothing at 
issue, and consequently has very few sensible ideas and 
no will to maintain order or to increase the common 
prosperity, as to the man of energy and business 
capacity who has property — is also an injustice. They 
hold that it is wise to restrict the right to vote to those 
who are possessed of goods and are educated. This re- 
striction excludes only the dangerous elements, and it 
also promotes reform and elevation and stimulates to 
efforts to overcome the stigma of ignorance and pauper- 
ism, and inspires many to seek their own elevation. 

Gradually the people are taking more interest in 
public affairs in their immediate localities and moving 
onward to acquire the needed qualifications for partici- 
pation in political matters generally. 

Still it is probable that at this time there is scarcely 



234 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

one in ten of the inhabitants who possess qualifications 
for the intelligent exercise of the elective franchise. 
Mexico is in a state of evolution, and all depends upon 
the government whether the country has prosperity and 
development, or the reverse. 

The army of Mexico numbers about 42,000 men. 
There is also an unpublished number of rural guards, 
who are located throughout the entire country to act as 
a police. They are specially located upon the lines of 
railroads and a squad of them stands at "attention" on 
the arrival of trains at stations to secure immunity from 
raids of robbers and under their influence, and as a re- 
sult of their vigilance, the peace and security of Mexi- 
can travel and tour is as great as in the United States 
or Europe. 

Without doubt a well organized and wisely com- 
manded army is a necessity to preserve the peace of the 
country, and it is the wish of all classes and of all par- 
ties that military power should be invoked to that wise 
and profitable end, at the discretion of the president, to 
whom they have learned to look for the cessation of 
war, intestinal war, wherein brother has shed the blood 
of brother and the son has murdered his father, 
only to forward the personal ambitions of men who 
wished to secure position and power; the great clamor 
of the people has been for the cessation of this mutual 
murder, that the public peace should be preserved, that 
thieves should be arrested, that organized bands of 
robbers should be overthrown, that smugglers and con- 
trabandists should be suppressed and punished, and 
that the hydra of revolution should be destroyed. For 
the attainment of all these desirable aims a permanent 
army is a necessity, audit is probable that when these 



FR03r CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 235 

beneficent results have been attained, and when they 
have prevailed, until by reason of mental, moral and 
spiritual education, the people have settled into new 
lines of thought and custom, the sovereign power of the 
nation can be consigned to their hands directly. 

United with Juarez as the saviour of the country 
from the consuming and destroying power of ecclesi- 
asticism, the liberator of the south and the center, 
giving effective death-blows to imperialism in the last 
days of the war of reform, Diaz has proved to be the 
rightful custodian of the wonderful power vested in the 
hands of the president of the Mexican republic. 

Under his administration the country has attained 
the complete and happy consummation of intellectual 
liberty and progress, of which Hidalgo and Morelos 
dreamed, for which Farias and Comonfort contended, 
and which began to be established and enjoyed under 
the administration of the immortal Juarez. 




CHAPTER XXI. 



CHRONOLOGICAIv TABLE OF GOVERNORS OF MEXICO. 

Fernando Cortez, captain general 1523 

Ivouis Ponce, captain general 1526 

Marcos Auguilar, captain general 1526 

Alonzo de Estrada, captain general 1527 

FIRST AUDIENCIA. 

Nuno de Guzman, president 1528 

SECOND AUDIENCIA. 

Sebastian Ramirez, president 1531 

VICEROYS. 

Antonio de Mendoza, first official i535 

Various viceroys, sixty-two in number, up to Juan 

O'Donoju, sixty-fourth and last 1821 

Independence of Mexico, September 28, 1821. 
imperial regency. 
Iturbide, O'Donoju, Barcena, Perez, (a bishop,) 
Yanez, Velasquez, Bravo and Vallentin, in- 
stalled, September 28, 1821 

THE EMPIRE. 

Iturbide crowned emperor of Mexico, July 21 1822 

Abdication of Iturbide, March 20, 1823 

EXECUTIVE POWER. 
Victoria, Bravo, Negrete and Guerrero, installed, 

March 31, , 1823 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 237 

REPUBUC OP MEXICO. 

Guadalupe Victoria, president, October 10, 1824 

Vincent Guerrero, president, April i, 1829 

Jose M. Bocanegra, provisional president, Decem- 
ber 16, 1829 

EXECUTIVE POWER. 
Pedro Velez, Lucas Alman and lyOuis Quintanar, 

December, 1829 

Anastasia Bustamente, vice-president, assumed 

power January i , . . . 1830 

Melchor Muzquiz, provisional president, August 14, 1832 

Gomez Pedraza, president, December 24, 1832 

Valentin Gomez Farias, vice-president, April i, . . . 1833 

Santa Anna, president, May 15, 1833 

Miguel Barragan, provisional president, January, 

2S, 1835 

Jose Justo Carro, provisional president, February 

27. -° 1836 

Anastasia Bustamente, president, April 19, 1836 

Javier Echeverria, provisional president, 1841 

Santa Anna, provisional president, 1841 

Nicholas Bravo, provisional president, 1842 

Santa Anna, president, June 3, 1843 

Valentin Canalizo, provisional president, 1844 

Jose Joaquin Herrera, provisional president, De- 
cember 5 , 1 844 

Jose Joaquin Herrera, president, September 16, ... 1845 
Jose Maria Paredes, provisional president, Janu- 
ary 3, 1846 

Nicholas Bravo, provisional president, July 28, .... 1846 
Jose Marino de Salas, provisional president, Aug- 
ust 22, 1846 



238 HIS'IORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

Santa Anna, provisional president, December 23, . . 1846 

Gomez Farias, ad interim, January, 1847 

Pedro Maria Anaya, substitute, April 2, 1847 

Santa Anna, resumed the office, May, 1847 

Manuel Pena y Pena, provisional president, Sep- 
tember 26, 1847 

Pedro Maria Anaya, ad interim, November 12, ... . 1847 
Manuel Pena y Pena, president supreme court, 

January 8, 1848 

■Jose Joaquin Herrera, president, June 3, 1848 

Mariana Arista, president, January 15, 1851 

Jean Ceballos, president supreme court, January 6, . 1853 
Manuel M. lyombardino, provisional president, 

February 7, .' , 1853 

Santa Anna, dictator, April 20, 1853 

t)iaz de la Vega, provisional president, August 9, . . 1855 
Martin Carrero, provisional president, August 15, . . 1855 
t)iaz de la Vega, provisional president, September, 

II, 1855 

Juan Alvarez, ad interim, October 4, 1855 

Ignatio Comonfort, provisional president, Decem- 
ber 8, 1855 

tgnatio Comonfort, president, December i, 1857 

Benito Juarez, president supreme court, January 10, 1858 

Benito Juarez, president, 1861 

feenito Juarez, president, December, 1867 

]Benito Juarez, president, October, 1870 

(Up to day of his death, July 18,) 1872 

Sebastian Lerdo, president of supreme court, as- 
sumed executive office, July 18, 1872 

Sebastian Lerdo, president, December 16, 1872 

Jose Maria Iglesias, revolutionary president, Octo- 
ber, 1876 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 239 

Porfirio Diaz, provisional president. December, . . . 1876 

Porfirio Diaz, president, April 2, 1877 

Manuel Gonzalez, president, December i, 1S80 

Porfirio Diaz, president, December i, 1884 

Porfirio Diaz, president, December i, 18S8 

Porfirio Diaz, president, December i , 1892 

(Term will expire, November 30,) 1896 

QUASI EXECUTIVIIS. 
Felix Zuloaga, revohitionarj^president, January 22, 1858- 
Robles Pezuela, provisional president, December, . . 1858 

Jose M. Pavon, president of supreme court, 1859 

Manuel Miramon, provisional substitute, 1859 

Felix Zuloaga, president, resumed power i860 

Manuel Miramon, president, i860 

FRENCH INVASION. 

Juan N. Almonte, provisional president, appointed 

\>y the French general, lyaurencez, 1862 

Regency appointed by French general, which de- 
cided for an empire, 1863 

Maximillian crowned emperor, April 10, 1864 

(Executed, June 19, 1867 



CHAPTER XXII. 



M^ 



MISCELLANEOUS FACTS. 

EXICO with about 5,000 miles of coast and several 
harbors has no navy and only a few harbor 
vessels. Though she has the castle of San 
Juan d'Ulua, which cost the Spanish government 
$40,000,000, and the castle of Perote, a scientifically 
constructed fortress covering more than forty acres of 
ground, and has a fortress at Acapulco of the same 
character, and has forts in other parts of her territory; 
she has not a single cannon mounted, either in the in- 
terior or on the coasts. 

San Juan d'Ulua is used as a prison where mur- 
derers and others of the worst criminal classes are con- 
fined and guarded, but not a gun is mounted to de- 
fend the harbor or city of Vera Cruz. 

Mexico is not a warlike nation and her adjoining 
neighbor on the south, Guatemala, is a feeble power 
and has no warlike record or schemes. 

The United States on the north has no policy of 
acquisition. Mexico can safely rest under the guardian- 
ship of the Union, which maintained the Monroe 
Doctrine in her behalf against Napoleon III. and his 
Catholic allies; and it is this assurance in that regard 
which protects the American coasts from Canada on the 
north to the straits of Magellan on the south; and it is 
so well appreciated that all of the American republics 
rest thereon fearlessly, and it is this which caused Brazil 








"BELLE OF OAXACA." 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ, 241 

recently ta prepare a monument and statue to the inter- 
natioual policy-maker, James Monroe 

Since the era of reform about 5,000 miles of rail- 
roads have been built in Mexico, with surveys for a 
great extension of that .system of communication. Thus 
the outside world has been introduced to the people and 
the country. The natural result will be the permanence 
of the reforms, the improvement of business, the better 
education of the people and the maiutaiuauce of the 
progressive policies of the government. 



It is estimated that 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 of Mexi- 
cans speak their native language, and the greater num- 
ber of these can speak no other. They can neither read 
nor write nor ever had an ancestor who cotild; they 
never slept in a bed nor wore stockings, either having 
feet entirely bare or shod with rawhide sandals; the 
soles of whose feet resemble the cuticle on the foot of 
the camel. On the mountains and in the valleys, on 
the coasts, on the table-lands and on the slopes they 
live in almost native and aboriginal style and method, 
except that Catholic priests have somewhat modified 
their religious habits, have substituted idols of canvas, 
paint and wax for those originally of stone and clay, 
though in morals they have deteriorated. 

The food of the millions is corn, beans and pepper, 
the same substantially as was the subsistence of the 
natives when conquered by Cortez in 1521, and had 
been for an indefinite period. The corn is first boiled, 
then hulled and afterwards mashed with a stone rubber 
upon a flat stone until of the consistence of dough, when 

it is patted between the hands down to a thin cake, 

16 — 



242 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

baked upon a hot stone or sheet iron, and comes off a 
"tortilla." The beans and pepper are stewed together 
in an earthen or iron vessel and to this is added, if 
fortune has favored, a modicum of meat. 

When the cooking is completed all the family squat 
down upon the ground around the pot containing the 
stew, and making a spoon of the tortilla, they each at 
will, dip out and eat, spoon and all. Of table cutlery 
they are entirely destitute; dishes are unknown, table- 
cloth and napkins are viimis, and having eaten their 
spoons no dishes remain to be washed. A jar of water 
or pulque and a gourd supply drink and cup. 

Approach a country house — it is of adobe and 
stands without shade, fence or grass plot. The dogs 
and dust annoy you on the outside while the dust and 
fleas render your stay inside anything but comfortable. 
The floor is dirt. There are no beds, tables or chairs. 
The people sleep upon mats spread upon the ground. 
The bedding consists of the blanket or rebosa of the men 
and the same with a quilt for the women and children. 
On the coasts and low lands the houses are of palm leaf 
or other vegetable growth, constructed around a frame 
work of poles, and often look like straw or fodder 
stacks. Houses rarely have chimneys. In the city 
never. 

Of books, papers and libraries, they are almost 
entirely destitute. A picture of the virgin of Guadalupe 
or of some saint or Scripture scene, possibly adorns the 
walls with a half -christian, half-heathen shrine of some 
kind at which to worship. Their education consists in 
the ability to say some prayers in Latin and make re- 
sponges by rote, and to cross themselves and take off 
their hats upon meeting consecrated persons or passing 



FROM COR7EZ TO DIAZ. 243 

consecrated places. Millions are thus circumstanced 
and pass along generation after generation. 

In cities and among the better educated and 
wealthy citizens in the country may be found better 
food, furniture and accommodations, graduated up to 
the most luxurious style of living, in the best of fur- 
nished abodes. In the City of Mexico upon the paseo 
can be seen turnouts of the finest coaches with pure- 
blood Andalusian horses and liveried servants, equal in 
style to European cities. 

The houses of the wealthy and the better classes 
are built with a court or "patio" within, which is 
square and of sufficient size to contain a fountain with 
trees, shrubs, vines and flowers. The horses and car- 
riages are kept in the lower story, while the rooms 
above are the family apartments. Often a highly walled 
lot of ground is attached which is filled with trees and 
fountains, and thus in that hot country becomes a per- 
fect paradise. Such enclosures are seldom absent from 
church property and residences of the clergy. 

The inside of the house is the home, the outside 
the castle. The windows are barred and closely guarded 
from intrusion by shutters. Rarely is glass found in 
the windows. As evening approaches members of the 
family open a part or all of the shutters and enjoy the 
air and views of life on the outside, but seclusion and 
exclusion is the rule. In the city the houses never are 
supplied with chimneys; in the country rarely are they 
to be found. Cooking is done and occasional heat 
secured by the use of charcoal and braziers. 

The one entrance is a large double door through 
which carriages can pass. These doors are thick and 
strong and in the older houses are made to shut against 



244 HlSl OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS. 

an outside stone barrier at the bottom wbicli effectually 
guards the entrance from unwelcome guests. This was 
required in revolutionary times, for the rabble as well 
as the soldiery sought spoils from any and all who had 
goods of value. A small door is usually made, within 
the main one, through which persons can pass. 

By law all ingress or egress to and from houses on 
streets in towns and cities must be by the one door on 
the street. ' Thus no one can retreat by the back way, 
and'there are no alleys. At each intersection of streets 
a policeman stands day and night, and thus the coming 
and going of all is under the surveillance of the officers 
of the government 

Lands are not surveyed and platted as in the 
United States, When land is disposed of by the gov- 
ernment, it is only in large quantities, and then it is 
described and defined by monuments, metes and bounds. 
At this time the government, to avoid speculators, sells 
only to those who give assurance of actual improvement 
by persons or colonies. 

The Indian title is never extinguished or recognized , 
the theory of the conquerors remains in force, and that 
was that the Indian had no rights which a Catholic 
conqueror was bound to respect. This has entailed 
within the native an odium towards the white man as 
vivid and intense as in the first days of the conquest 
and spoliation. But he is powerless. 

Colonists are left to make terms with those who 
live upon lands which were the homes of their ances- 
tors. Many on attempt have found this a difficult 
matter. The native is not anxious for employment at 
manual labor upon his tropical homestead, where pro- 
fuse and lavish nature has furnished him a simple fare 



FROM CORTEZ lO DIAZ. 245 

without great effort on his part. He lives much in the 
open air, dresses simply, where he dresses at all, eats 
what he can get, has little use for money, knows noth- 
ing about accumulating wealth and has no sympathy 
with progress or enterprise, and therefore nothing to 
stimulate him to laborious action. Nor is he willing 
that others should intrude upon his old home and 
haunts, and he finds many methods to thwart civiliza- 
tion, cultivation and modernism. 

When the stranger immigrant wishes to secure 
improved lands or small tracts there is great difficulty 
in finding any who will dispose of their ancestral entail- 
ment; immigrants find little encouragement and soon 
ascertain that their room is preferred to their company. 

Lands are not taxed, so large holdings are attended 
with no expense, except as to that part which is worked. 
When an heir succeeds to an estate, he makes careful 
estimate as to the amount of money he will need to live 
at the place and in the style which suits his fancy, and 
then he works his lands for that sum only. He will 
entail the estate intact as he received it, and thus 
generations "have, hold and keep," for they rarely 
ever sell. 

Taxes ar^ levied largely upon incomes, business 
and enterprise. The keeper of a modest restaurant in 
the city, who paid his landlord $35 per month, was 
taxed upon his business $20 per month for the benefit 
of the government and $1.25 per year on occupation, 
while in addition he would pay an annual tax upon the 
gross amount of business done. 

The tax on coffee buyers is $600 per annum for 
each place of purchase and a like amount for each travel- 
ing agent or purchaser. Coffee sacks are 6 cents each 



246 HISl OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

on importing the sacks and 5 cents each when exported 
full of coffee. The export tax on coffee is $1 per 100 
pounds. A stamp tax which reaches all business docu- 
ments, advertisements and posters produces a large 
revenue. 

It is the current remark of foreigners doing business 
in Mtxico, that the government officials lie awake of 
nights studying up old laws and planning new ones 
whereby successful business enterprise may be more 
heavily taxCd; and it is a constant struggle on the part 
of the enterprising capitalist who has invested in the 
country to avoid substantial confiscation. 



Of the Americans who located in or made ventures 
of a business nature in Mexico up to a recent date, the 
natives had no very good opinion, and summed up their 
estimate as follows: "Frontiersmen, mean, vulgar and 
indecent, fugitives, vagabonds, refugees from justice, 
gamblers by profession, speculators in mines, peddlers, 
charlatans and adventurers, politicians who have been 
rolling around until they have reached Mexico; workers 
on railroads who have been discharged, and lawyers 
and doctors without clients, constituting the worst 
element of strangers who exist in the country; of bad 
form, without conscience or morality, who discard as 
ridiculous the idea of tolerating any principle of justice, 
interfering with the affairs of the nation, setting by this 
action the worst possible example and creating the worst 
possible opinion against the probity and good inten- 
tions of the Americans. lyiving the lives of idlers in 
hotels and saloons, talking in a loud voice and in a 
boastful manner about 'revolution, invasion and mani- 



PROM C0R7EZ TO DMZ. lifl 

fest destiny.' Chewing tobacco, drinicing liquor 
blaspheming, playing billiards and conducting them- 
selves in such a manner as to cause disgust among 
respectable Americans as well as Mexicans." 

"One of the first signs in populations of recent 
formation along side of the railroads, showing the 
superior culture of the north, consists in large l|tters, 
announcing the «ale of 'Whisky Punch,' 'Brandy 
Smash,' 'Champagne Cocktails,' 'American Mixed 
Drinks,' and other things of that style. It is rarely the 
case that one hears the American speak his language in 
the country without the use of boast and blasphemy."* 

Of Europeans was written: "The Europeans in 
Mexico take little interest in the progress of the country, 
having neither sympathy with Mexicans nor their in- 
stitutions, and on the contrary giving offensive ex- 
pression to their superiority. They maintain their own 
social life, attend their own schools, clubs and places of 
amusement and mix very little with the natives." 

"The Mexicans receive business advances from the 
people of the United States with the same warmth and 
ardor that they do those of the French. 

"But the Spaniard is the most odious of all nationali- 
ties. Under the policy of exclusion which prevailed for 
three centuries, all strangers were kept out of Mexico; 
so when the era of independence dawned there were 
only Spaniards, Mexicans, and a mixed class composed 
of the union of the blood of those two peoples. The 
Spaniards were educated and used to political power, 
and they regarded all Creoles and mixed people and na- 
tives with contempt. 

"The French commenced to come to the countr>' 

*Biografia de Diaz. 



248 HIST OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

soon after the establisliment of independence, and en- 
gaged in the hotel and restaurant business; and their 
efforts resulted in offering to the people a better service 
than had the Spanish. The Germans came at the same 
time, and became the best merchants of the period."* 

At this time the French and the Germans do the 
most of the dry goods trade. The Spanish-speaking 
people have the grocery and produce, and the English 
have the hardware and machinery, and still hold the 
railroads to the port of Vera Cruz, of which they were 
the original projectors. Americans share with the Eng- 
lish in railroads from the United States, while the Mexi- 
can government owns the Tehuantepec line from the 
Gulf to the Pacific. The English are mainly the bankr 
ers and brokers, but Americans are beginning to share 
the business. Ocean commerce is in the hands of for- 
eigners, but the coasting trade is done by Mexicans. 



Of the state of public and private morals in Mexico 
little need be said to give emphasis to the well known 
fact, that in no strictly Roman Catholic country has a 
high moral standard ever been urged or attained; and a 
few facts will show that Mexico is no exception to the 
rule. 

Speaking of the ancient artificial pyramid at Cho- 
lula the Mexican historian truthfully says, that the 
same is now occupied with a Church with two towers 
and a large bell in each, that it is mouldy and time- 
stained without, but adorned wkh paint and gold and 
artistic displays, with portraits and statuary within; and 
that in the city adjoining are many grand churches with 

*BiogTafia de Diaz. 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 249 

the Plaza de Torres, or bull ring, iu the midst, where 
the clerks and the faithful of the Church reunite to see 
the bloody sport of the bull-fight after they have assisted 
iu their divine offices in public service or mass in their 
respective places of worship in the morning. It should 
be borne in mind that bull-fights take place on Sundays 
and feast days only; like Sunday schools of Protestant- 
ism. 

In the City of Mexico the "soiled doves" rise from 
their couches in licensed houses at 6 o'clock in the 
morning of Sundays, attend early mass for the quieting 
of their consciences and retaining their churchly rela- 
tion, and then return to their shamful occupation, 
assured, under the system of appeasing God and secur- 
ing condonment for past and contemplated crime for a 
money consideration, taught them by their priests, that 
they stand justified by cash while others depend upon 
faith to secure that saved condition. 

Many a bright youth in the city is pointed out as 
the progeny of a priest; and it is said that if all the 
clergy were to strictly observe their vows of celibacy a 
certain class of specialists would have less practice and 
reduced incomes. 

One of the hindrances to securing converts to Pro- 
testantism from the mestizos and natives is the new and 
rigid system of morals and spiritual purity taught and 
urged as inseperable from Christian living within the 
pale of Protestant churches. 

On Sundays lottery tickets are sold on the streets, 
and at Church doors, drinking places are open in all 
parts of city and country, gambling, cock and bull 
fights are tolerated and licensed; fairs, markets, hawk- 
ing and peddling compete with open stores; mechanics 



250 HIS! OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

and toilers follow their regular occupations; fandangos 
and balls are openly maintained and patronized, and all, 
all, all, proprietors and patrons are in good standing in 
the Roman Catholic church if they have duly patronized 
the priest and paid his fees. 

By reason of the excessive charges made by priests 
for performing the marriage ceremony many thousands 
of impecunious loving couples in Mexico take up with 
each other annually, and then from time to time pay 
money into the hands of the priest, which finally 
amounting to the $\o or $15 required, the pair are duly 
married, and their children baptized at one and the 
same time and occasion. This lamentable state of public 
morals caused the transferring of the marriage rite from 
the religious to the civil order on the part of the reform- 
ers; but the clerical anathema still sways the public 
mind, for there, as in the United States, the Church 
proclaims that marriage by a magistrate or Protestant, 
and not by a Roman Catholic priest is void, and the off- 
spring thereof are bastards. "She (the Church) has 
the right of treating all marriages which are not solemn- 
ized according to the form of the Council of Trent as in- 
valid, even those solemnized according to a form pre- 
scribed by the civil law." — Canon laws of Pius IX., 
1864. Under this teaching the people adopt and the 
priests force the concubinage as stated, the rule being, 
"no money no marriage ceremony." 

Just after the traveler on the ' ' National' ' has crossed 
the 10,000 feet of mountain ridge that bounds the 
"Valley," and has the City of Mexico nearly in view, 
he can see off to the right a magnificent Church — the 
"Church of the Thieves. " Why so called? Well, in the 
days when bandits made profitable forays upon silver 



PROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 251 

trains en route to the city, many pious thieves perform- 
ing their devotions in chapel of humble proportions, ere 
they went out to business, vowed a good bestowment 
upon the Church if successful. Being greatly prospered 
by a raid soon after, and attributing it to their prayers 
and vows, and being moved by the maxim, "honor 
among," etc., they testified their piety and loyalty by 
furnishing funds from their robberies, whereby was 
built a grand Church; hence the name. 

In 1826 in a conversation with the British minister 
and lamenting the debased state of the Mexican people, 
a distinguished member of a cathedral chapter used this 
remarkable and truthful phrase, "Son muybuenosCato- 
licos, pero muy malos Christianos," They are very good 
Catholics, but very bad Christians, and that it had been 
too much the interest of the lower orders of the clergy 
to direct the attention of their flocks, rather to a scrupu- 
lous observance of the forms of the Catholic church, 
than to its moral and spirit, from which their revenues 
derived little advantage. 

To commit theft is such a habit with many of the 
population that all who have valuables secure them by 
the most careful exercise of precautions, such as high 
walls, strong doors, huge bolts and locks, closely barred 
and shuttered windows, and the possession of fire arms 
ready for use. 

But should a thief secure personal property and dis- 
pose of it to a "fence" or otherwise, it would be of no 
avail for the despoiled owner to find, identify and claim 
it; for, under the usages of the country, the possession 
of personal property, coming through the channel of 
purchase, carries title. The claimant would be in- 



252 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

structed to catch and punish the thief as his only re- 
dress. 

Should a citizen resist an attempt at assault or theft 
he, as well as the offender, would be arrested and held 
for trial. 

Railroad companies have often lost valuable prop- 
erty by theft, and on finding it in the hands of a pur- 
chaser have failed to recover it, on the above named 
usage. So, having obtained wisdom by experience, it 
is now a rule with all officers and employees of such 
companies to remove carefully all links, pins, and other 
valuable parts of cars and trains, and to lock them in 
secure places, otherwise they would be irrecoverably lost 
by theft. 

But justice is prompt and inexorable in many cases. 
Under the administration of justice by the processes 
adopted by the rural guards, when any thief, or other 
criminal, especially a noted one, is captured he is rarely 
brought to trial, but is dispatched en route and the re- 
port is made that he attempted to escape, and that his 
death was necessary. By this means justice has her 
dues, and the government avoids excessive criminal 
costs. 

In February, 1894, when the writer was in Mexico, 
the usual Sunday night fandango was being enjoyed at 
the mining city of Pachuca. An incensed Mexican shot 
and killed a woman for real or fancied offense. Im- 
mediately the doors were locked, and all persons placed 
under arrest. The proper civil officers were called, a 
trial had with all witnesses required to prove the crime; 
sentence was passed, the offender turned over to the 
proper officer, who kept him in custody, the priest 
called, who by Roman Catholic processes prepared the 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 253 

culprit to join the society of the blessed in the hereafter; 
and on Tuesday morning at sunrise the convict was 
executed by the discharge of the unerring volley from 
fire arms. 



Although Yucatan is a state of Mexico it is not 
entirely subject to the national dominion. It is practi- 
cally a peninsula, and divides the Gulf of Mexico 
from the Caribean sea. Its length is 260 miles north 
and south, and 180 miles wide. It is but little elevated 
above sea level, and is peculiarly flat. The basic forma- 
tion is fossiliferous limestone. The soil is loam of ex- 
traordinary richness, which is covered with dense forests 
of rare and valuable timber. Scattered throughout 
these forests are the ruins and remains of large cities, 
and of magnificent and stupendous edifices which, doubt- 
less, once were temples for gods and palaces of monarchs. 
The outward and inward walls of these structures are 
covered with sculpture, bas-reliefs and inscriptions 
which, by alphabetical and hieroglyphic writings, pre- 
sent volumes of history. 

The perfection of form, the harmony of design and 
the excellence of execution, surpassing the art exhibited 
in Old World ruins, testify to the high degree of civili- 
zation attained by people and builders. The beauty of 
the decorations and the exquisite proportions of these 
wonderful structures inspire unspeakable emotions of 
amazement and admiration within all who are permitted 
to behold them. 

Dr. le Plongeon, a noted explorer and archeoligist, 
has recently secured and translated some of the few 
MSS saved from destruction at the hands of the Roman 
Catholic Bishop Luanda, who accompanied the Spanish 



254 HISl OR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

invaders, and wlio, with characteristic iconoclasm, com- 
mitted to the flames all literature and works of civiliza- 
tion of native creation which he could secure. These 
MSS are written on sheets of parchment, prepared from 
deer skins, in the colored characters of an alphabet 
formulated in a pre-historic period. 

The northern part of Yucatan is occupied by an en- 
terprising and thrifty population, who have constructed 
railroads from'their principal cities to their seaports with- 
out aid from outside capital, and whose productions and 
commerce have made them independent. That part 
alone holds oflEcial relations with the Mexican govern- 
ment. 

The southern part is occupied by a remnant of the 
Mayan nation, whose idioms are almost identical with 
the incriptions upon the ruins of the country. The 
shameful cruelties inflicted upon them by the Spaniards 
has entailed hatred and hostility, which has been mani- 
fested in their many efforts to throw off the yoke of 
Spain and of Mexico whenever opportunity has offered 
itself. 

During the war with the United States the natives 
took advantage thereof and succeeded, after a long and 
sanguinary struggle, in freeing the southern part from 
the white man's control. In their strongholds, in the 
southwest part, they remain independent, and are a 
terror to the white man and his Indian allies. Their 
war cry is "death to the white monkeys." Their hos- 
tility and prowess forbids tour, research and travel 
through that part of Mexico. 



One of the most notable facts in Mexico is the con- 
trol which the state exercises over the Church and the 



FROM CORIEZ TO DIAZ. 255 

clergy. All Churches are under the supervision of the 
state, which limits the number of the clergy who may 
be tolerated in their professional capacity. 

This is reactionary, as in the days before the reform 
many more of the sacerdotal order were imposed upon 
the various communities than were needed, as in Puebla, 
a city of 70,000 inhabitants, where for each thousand 
half-naked, bare-footed Indians, there was a costly 
Church to maintain, and an aggregate of 300 of the ec- 
clesiastics; and in like manner, if not in proportional 
numbers, the clergy were distributed throughout the 
country. 

Processions used to be numerous, and Church 
parades and imposing demonstrations were of daily oc- 
currence. Priests wore the insignia of their offices in 
the form of a peculiar hat and coat. Now no processions 
are allowed, nor are the clergy permitted to dress in any 
manner to show their sacerdotal character; and as else- 
where stated, there are r.o religious orders in the 
country, therefore no Sisters of Charity are to be seen. 
This rigid discrimination is also of a reactionary' nature, 
inasmuch as insurrections and political revolutions 
came from such orders, and it is ungraciously received 
by the subjects of the discipline. 

While it is manifestly dictatorial and unrepublican 
for the state authorities to limit the forming of distinct 
political parties, to exercise censorship over the press, 
to restrain adverse criticism of the administration, to 
forbid religious societies and to restrain forms of dress 
and public demonstrations, the peace of the country 
practically demands it. 

With millions of superstitious Indians susceptible 
of being led to revolution, and with a clergy who have 



256 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 

too often shown their wish and will to dominate the 
civil government by church revolt, it is necessary to 
forestall action by such methods. 

Ask an intelligent Mexican business man how it 
was possible for Juarez and his associate reformers to 
dispossess the Church of property and power? The an- 
swer will be, "thj priests left their true domain of re- 
ligion, became politicians, and worked against the ma- 
terial and political interests of the country. Having 
entered politics they were met hy a stronger party which 
put them out of political and f.aancial place, power and 
possessions; and though I myself, and almost all other 
Mexican citizens, receive the communion at the hands 
of the priests as loyal Roman Catholics, we yet do not 
want the priests to rule the state. ' ' 

Ask an ecclesiastic the same questions, and why 
the priests and their religious clientage submit to the 
decrees and results of the reform, and he will answer, 
"the Church is a Church of peace and submits to wrong 
on that principle." 

"While there is no distinct class who advocate the 
annexation of Mexico to the United States, yet if 
broached as a proposition none would be likely to advo- 
cate it as gladly as would the clergy, who would thereby 
be translated from the exclusiveism of Catholic Mexico 
to the exceedingly broad liberalism of the Protestant 
United States. 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 257 

Kings of thought and HeroKS of action took part 
in the work of reform in Mexico. 

Unfamed statesmen and patriots took counsel, 
shaped sentiment and devised \va3s and means without 
ostentation or publicity. Upon a few notaljle characters 
fell the duty of taking the lead, such as Juarez whose 
crowning culogium "He disdained to compromise" was 
a summary of his rigid adherence to principle. Lerdo, 
cabinet officer and companion'of Juarez, distinguished 
in the law, still whose ambition and subtilty finally led 
to his overthrow. Ortega, whose brief, brilliant career 
of success in the command of troops in the field, and 
whose defense of Puebla gave renown, and who refused 
proffered honors a the hands of the French as an in- 
ducement to his betrayal of Juarez and the constitution. 

Diaz also, whose genius, generalship and patriotism 
were inherent and intuitive. He also refused the 
seductive offer from Bazaine of civil place which 
promised almost imperial power, as ]\Iaximillian's star 
was being eclipsed and Napoleon III. wished to sub- 
stitute a Mexican for the Austrian 0:1 the throne. 
Nearly as stubborn as Juarez and quite as astute and 
learned in the law as I^erdo, Diaz with his patriotism 
and skill has been equal to every phase of emergency 
iu the evolution of true republicanism in Mexico. 

The ideal "citizen president," the nearly dicta- 
torial but withal paternal controller of the gox^ernment 
and the people, endearing himself to all. Po.-sessed ot 
personal magnetism, partly intuitive, bat' oonsisang 
largely in his methods, he secures the fealty of all vvitii 
whom he has- official relations. 

Wresting power irom i,erdo, ^e, by meriting it, 



258 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

secured alliances with I^erdo's best friends and sup- 
porters, notably Romero Rubio, a distinguished lawyer 
and patriot, who entered the cabinet; and Escobedc, 
who as general, commanded I^erdo's troops, was first 
captured by armed men and then by the kindness of 
Diaz. 

But the most marked instance of Diaz's peculiar 
style is seen when he captured Puebla from the French. 
There, among the hundreds of officers captured, and 
whose fate by the rules of that war was death, was a 
French officer from whom Diaz had once escaped, for 
whose recapture $10,000 was ofiicially offered, to which 
the now captive had then added ^i,oco from his private 
purse, all to be paid for the capture or death of Diaz. 

The prisoners were under guard in a church, Diaz 
enters and finds them, like true Catholics in extremis, 
confessing to the priests and making disposition oi their 
earthly effects; all overwhelmed with sorrow and many 
in tears. He surveyed the scene, called attention, ad- 
dressed them as ^'friends''' and assured them that he 
would without consent from his superiors, take the re- 
sponsibility of disposing of them in his own manner. 
He told them that though they had made a mistake in 
fighting against the republic, they still were needed as 
good citizens of the same, and adding many words of 
kindness and patriotism, assured them that they were 
free. Needless is it to say that he bound them to him 
as friends with hooks of steel. The Frenchman could 
not find words to express his very peculiar emotions, 
and Diaz only escaped a rush of hand shaking and the 
peculiar "Mexican embrace" of hundreds by immediate 
and precipitate retreat. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



A BULI. FIGHT. 

A CALM Sunday morning has dawned upon sun- 
bright, ilovver-bedecked Mexico. Deep toned 
bells and musical chimes from many cathedrals 
and churches have called to early mass, and thousands 
of people have responded. Throngs have assembled 
and duly celebrated the mass and punctilliously fulfilled 
the forms and duties of their Christian faith for the 
morning hours. 

The afternoon comes and the same pious people 
Ihroug the streets; they press in multitudes to a com- 
mon center which is the "Plaza de Torres" or bull ring, 
where without violating their Roman Catholic con- 
sciences, they give themselves up to the pleasure of the 
sport the balance of the day. 

The history of bull fighting in Mexico is but 
another chapter added to that of Spain, simply chang- 
ing the names of the stars of the profession. The 
people of Mexico inherit the bloody fascination of the 
sport, and what has been written of the exciting 
fimcions in the Plaza de Torres of Spain will describe as 
well the fights in the arena of Puebla, Toluca, Tlalne- 
pantla, the City of Mexico or any other of the republic. 
It is very much like baseball in America, the national 
place of excitement and amusement. One is bloodless 
or intended to be, the other is a failure without the ex- 
citement of a sanguinary outflow. 



26o HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 

But it does not follow that the bull fighter is a 
"tough." In the profession are college graduates who 
have held with credit the degree of A. M.; and Pouciano 
Diaz, the star of Mexico, recentlj^ reported killed by a 
bull, was a modest, well-appearing man of intelligence 
and good breeding, brave but not a bully, correct but 
not foppish, and altogether not spoiled by his profes- 
sional success; he was a semi-god to the masses, and 
the impersonation of all that was great to the people. 
This had been demonstrated in a positive manner from 
time to time, when they unhitched the mules from his 
carriage, and with shouts hundreds of them hauled him 
through the streets in triumph to his hotel. 

The Plaza de Torres is in shape -sfoxj like the cyclo- 
rama buildings in America, only much larger; inside is 
a monster amphi-theater seating thousai: Js of people, 
encircling the arena is a high fence or barrier with a 
foot rail about eighteen inches from the ground on the 
inside on .which the performers step and leap over the 
fence when too closeh'' pursued by the bull,, landing in 
an open space between the audience and the ring. 

The opening of the performance is brilliant and 
exciting, the audiences are nearly always large, some- 
times numbering 15,000 to 20,000, all eager for the fray; 
gay colors are everywhere, bands are playing the live- 
liest airs and all is excitement. 

The feeling of the novice under the circumstances 
is one of amazement and anxious expectation; there is 
a grand flourish of trumpets, a gaily caparisoned horse- 
man dashes in, gallops to the president's box. A kej'- 
is thrown to him — the key of the door leading to the 
pens where the animals are kept. The horseman 
catches the key (or fails at his peril), and gallops back 



FROM CORTEZ TO DTAZ. 261 

to the entrance and disappears. If the key is not 
caught the man is hissed out of the ring. 

Amother flourish of trumpets and loud huzzas from 
20,00© of throats announce the coming of the company. 
It is indeed a brilliant spectacle. The matadores and 
banderilleros on foot and 'Cuo^ picadores ox\. horseback, all 
clad in the gayest, grandest costumes, and in all colors 
and gold embroideries, march to the president's box. 

The president is a municipal or state officer and has 
full direction of the performance. He is saluted by the 
company, the superfluous performers retire, and all is 
ready for the fight. Now the wildest excitement pre- 
vails and the scene is the picture of pandemonium. All 
eyes are turned toward the low strong doors under the 
band stand; they are thrown open and from a darkened 
pen the bull bounds into the ring. As he passes under 
the rail a steel barb with ribbons attached, showing the 
breeder's colors, is fastened in his shoulder. He gallops 
to the middle of the ring, stops and looks around with 
fear and astonishment. He looks grand. Surprise and 
fear give way to rage. He paws the earth and snorts 
in his frenzy, and discovering the red cloth of the 
espada, starts toward him on the run. The man goes 
over the fence, but not too quickly, for he has hardly 
disappeared before the bull's horns are thrust through 
the boards. The animal turns and spies a horse, and 
woe be unto the horse for his time has come. The 
picador with his lance is totally unable to keep the bull 
fr.om goring the horse and it is killed. 

The horses are not valuable ones, being old and 
retired, but gotten up for this occasion are blindfolded 
and ridden in to a certain fate. Another man Is chased 
out orthe ring and another horse wounded. A signal 



262 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POIITICS, 

from tile president and a bugle call directs the horses 
to be removed. Now comes the most interesting part 
of the performance, the thrusting of the banderillas. 
The bull is surrounded by his tormentors. It is a con- 
test between skill and brute force. 

A banderilla is a wire about two and a half feet 
long. On the end is a sharp barbed point and the wire 
is covered its entire length with colored paper ribbons. 
The banderillo is the man who places them into the 
bull's shoulders; he must stand in front of the animal 
and wait the attack. The bull, maddened at his 
audacity, starts at him at full speed; the man steps out 
of his way gracefully, and skilfully thrusts the bander- 
illas in the bull's shoulders as he passes by. As soon 
as the animal can check his headlong speed, he turns 
only to find another banderillo with two more bander- 
illas. These and two more are thrust into his shoulders, 
all hanging there. Bellowing now, he is wild. 

Another signal from the president instructs that 
the bull has had enough and must be killed. This is 
where the matador, the primer-espada, distinguishes 
himself. His skilful killing of the bull by a single 
thrust of the sword is what determines the brilliancy of 
the star. The matador must face the bull, sword in 
hand, and await the attack. It is assassination to strike 
while he is at rest, and calls for hisses and missiles 
from the audience. The blood-red cloth or muleta is 
flaunted in front of the bull. The maddened animal 
closes his eyes and makes one more dash for victory or 
revenge and falls in death, the sword of the matador is 
thrust between the shoulders to the hilt and has pierced 
the animal's heart. 

Wild bursts of applause fill the air; hats, canes, 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 263 

cigars by the bushel are thrown into the ring by the 
delighted spectators; men shout and sing, ladies wave 
their handkerchiefs and mantillas; the matadc-r bows his' 
acknowledgments, throws the hats and canes back to 
their owners, who seem grateful that he should honor 
them thus. 

The band plays, the gates are opened, three gaudily 
decorated mules harnessed abreast are driven in, a rope 
is thrown over the dead bull's horns and he is dragged 
out. The wait between the acts is not more than a 
minute. The bugle calls, the low doors open and 
another bull gallops in, and thus on till six are killed 
at one performance. But should the advertised number 
not be killed, then on the next Sunday the number 
omitted must be added to the victims for that time. 

The skill and agility of the performers is some- 
thing wonderful and consists, in part, in holding the 
red cloak in such a way that the bull rushes for the 
cloak instead of nim who holds it. The bull shuts his 
eyes and does not see the man as he quickly steps to 
one side and escapes, but often he must save his life by 
flight and leap over the barrier around the ring. 

The Plaza de Torros is the bull ring, and the funcion 
is the performance. The best seats are on the shady 
side, those in the sun being sold at cheap prices. Seats 
in the shade, $2 to $3; boxes from $12 to $20, accord- 
ing to the company playing. The star fighter is a 
matador or espada, and he it is who finally kills the 
bull with his sword. The banderillo is the man who 
thrusts the banderillas in the animal's shoulders, and 
the banderilla is a dart with a barbed point, orna- 
mented with colored ribbons. The plait of hair or 
queue, worn on the back of the head by a bull fighter, 



264 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 

indicates that he has passed the degree of banderillo. 
If he commits any offense against the code of ethics, or 
repeatedly fails in the act of placing the banderillas,his 
queue is cut off in public and he is forever disgraced. 
The picadore is the man on horseback, but he doesn't 
stay there long after the entrance of the bull; yet while 
he does, he goads the animal with a pike or pole with a 
steel point. The capeadores are the men who handle 
the capes or cloaks which are flaunted in the bull's face 
to worry him. The muleta is the red cloth used by the 
espada at the killing, and the cachetero is he who puts 
the finishing dagger stroke between the horns; and 
when he has done so six times (with exceptions as 
stated) the show is over. 

Responding to an influence of moral reform, an 
effort was made a few years ago to legislate against bull 
fighting, and all performances were interdicted in the 
federal district. Now there are four rings within the 
city limits, and no well regulated town in the republic 
is without its Plaza de Torres. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



ROME UNDER CATHODE, OR "X," RAYS. 

The Aztec was entirely unacquainted with the 
horse, the mule, the burro, the cow, the ox, the sheep, 
and the hen; and also had no wheeled vehicles, nor did 
he know of iron in any form. His implements of metal 
were made of copper. Superior to the North American 
Indian, he was a house builder, using stone, wood and 
brick. He was also a city maker, and constructed 
aqueducts, dikes and causeways, to make city life 
pleasant. As an engineer his attainments and skill were 
of a high order. 

He was a record keeper, and preserved his civil, 
political and religious laws, histories and literature, in 
a style peculiar to himself — by pictorial illustrations, 
being words, sentences and idioms, in pictures. Doubt- 
less the Aztec records and histories contained data, and 
possibly positive information as to the pre-historic races 
who constructed the pyramids of Mexico — larger at the 
base than those of Egypt — and told of those who built 
the monuments, temples, houses, fortifications, stairs, 
courts and paved ways, which exist as ruins all over 
Southern Mexico and Central America. 

But the historian who looks to Mexico to solve 
problems of antiquity is confronted with voiceless stone 
and a blank page; for while the Aztecs were at the apex 
of their literature, art and science, the Roman Catholic 
made his appearance, and got in his work. Then these 



266 HISTOR Y OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

iconoclasts — yes, those worse than image-breakers— 
those art and science crushers, those education destroy- 
ers, gathered togetlier all of the records of the Aztec 
nation, their histories, their laws, their decrees, their 
religious tenets, their astronomical records of observa- 
tion, investigation and conclusion (which had attained 
such perfection that they had a more accurate calendar 
than had the astronomers of Europe) in short, gathered 
together all the literature of a higly civilized people into 
mountains of bound volumes and manuscrips, and then 
burned all to ashes — and destroyed a great civilization — 
in the name of Christ? Their kind of Christ! 

Would not Rome do so again not only in Mexico 
but in the United States, so that priestcraft might be in 
the ascendant? Could go back to temporal power, 
though she denounced and silenced the Galileo, the 
Copernicus, the I^uther, of to-day, and crushed out the 
American public school system as pernicious and un- 
worthy of Catholic patronage? Forget not this: "Great 
are the rights of nations, and they must be heeded; but 
greater and more sacred are the rights of the Church," 
as said Pius IX. 

Pius IX. is dead and gone to his account. But I^eo 
XIII. lives to perpetuate the work of iconoclasm. He 
also is on record as to Rome's policies and politics. In 
November, 1885, he issued the following: 

"We exort all Catholics to take an active part in all 
municipal affairs and elections, and to further the prin- 
ciples of the Church in all public services, meetings and 
gatherings. All Catholics must make themselves felt as 
active elements in daily political life in the countries where 
they live. They must penetrate wherever possible in 
the administration of civil affairs. All Catholics should 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ, 267 

do all in their power to cause the constitutions of the 
states, and legislation, to be modeled in the principles 
of the true Church." 

This commits Rome to the work of overthrowing 
our constitutions. Catholics are strictly "in it. " So are 
Americans. No more disguise. Religion is religion, 
but politics is politics. A microscope must possess rare 
power to discover any line separating Rome's religion 
from politics. The corner stone, arch and keystone of 
Rome are Peter, Priest, Politics. 

The irrepressible conflict is on, and this country 
cannot survive half Rome and half American. I^et all 
who think alike prepare to act together. 

The secessionist of American history established, 
not a monarchy or a hierachy, but a republic. The Con- 
federacy was to run parallel with the federal Union, 
each with a bill of rights locating sovereignty in the 
people. 

lyCo XIII. now plots a revolution to subvert the 
constitution and establish a hierarchy with soverignty 
vested in the Vatican ; the seat of empire of the alleged 
"true Church. " I,eo adopts peculiar and characteristic 
methods to unify his forces for political action. To 
adults he applies the policy of segregation. His priests 
and clergy of higher order are forbidden to hold any 
fraternal conventions with other Church people. His 
communicants are called out of American benevolent 
and social orders, and societies under pain of excom- 
munication, and are commended to membership in the 
"Clan na gael," the Catholic Knights, the Knights of 
Father Mathew, the Ancient Order of Hibernians; and 
of that ilk, into whose portals it is impossible for any to 
enter who are not Roman Catholics. In those societies 



268 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 

oath bound obligations to Rome and tier policies divide 
or obliterate loyalty to American principles and consti- 
tutions. 

All that is lacking to subvert the spirit and letter 
of our constitutions is enough Roman Catholic voters — 
or time serving political demagogues — or indifferent 
citizens who close their eyes and cry peace, peace; who 
ignore Rome's secret organizations and methods, but are 
painfully afflicted over patriotic efforts of Americans to 
effect counter organization with the sole object of pre- 
serving religious and political liberty. 

Had Rome — of such — a majority, the world would 
con realize the reign of the Pittsburg Bishop O'Con- 
nor's declaration. "Religious liberty is merely endured 
until the opposite can be carried into effect without 
peril to the Catholic Church." And " Protestantism has 
not, and never can have, any rights where Catholicity 
has triumphed;" as said the Catholic Review, June, 
1865. . 

lyOvers of liberty, political, religious and social, 
should not stand on the defensive alone, but should 
carry the war into the camp of popular educations only 
enemy, Rome, religious liberty's only enemy, Rome, 
the constitution's only enemy, Rome, by the most per- 
sistent, aggressive and effective methods, and by indi- 
vidual mid organized effort, and thus meet force with 
force in their chosen field — the secrecy of council, plan 
and united action. 

To maintain the orders and exortations of Rome in 
America her subalterns resort to insidious methods. 
They sustain them upon no publicly proclaimed plat- 
form, offer no argument, appeal to no intelligence, nor 
ask popular verdict upon testimony, argument or prin- 



FROM CO RTF Z TO DIAZ. 269 

ciple. With men and women it is an imperative order; 
while the declaration and admission made by Father 
"Dalton, that children to remain Catholics must have a 
prepossessed, prejudiced, parochial school education 
points out the course adopted with children. 

They therefore commence with the child, and ex- 
cluding — or perverting — instruction in philosophy, 
historic truths, political and moral science, natural 
rights of manhood, religous libert}^ civil law and inde- 
pendent research, they inculcate Church dogmas, fables 
of the supernatural, legends of the dead past, and super- 
stitutions of the present. They boldly and broadly arro- 
gate the bestowment, by God, upon Peter, and his alleged 
pontificial successors, of all things material and spiritual, 
carrying with the gift all power and rights, over men and 
over governments, civil, political and social. All this in 
extensive and continuous detail is burned, as it were, into 
the mind and the conscience of the pupil, and creates a 
blind faith and a loyal devotion calculated to abide 
through life. 

While there may be individual Catholics who 
would not favor the pope's dictum in America it would 
yet be an insult to intelligence, to assume that any com- 
municant in America could in any degree infiurence the 
decrees and policies of Rome. 

Thus there is in America a bigoted class, almost as 
numerous as may be Rome's communicants, which is 
the army of the propaganda ever ready to sustain 
Church efforts to change constitutions, control legisla- 
tion and politics, secure ofl&cial positions and patronage, 
and overthrow the public school sj^stem. The most 
skilful, experienced and conscienceless politician in the 
world, the Roman pontiff himself, giving orders, point- 



270 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS, 

ing out the lines of action and fixing the objective 
point. 

Among the defending and counteracting forces' 
whereby American patriots can resist Rome is the sys- 
tem of popular education in the common school, so 
fiercely assaulted by pope, archbishop, bishop and priest, 
and the time has come to make the issue and to demand 
and insist upon legal enactments, whereby attendance 
at the same shall be made compulsory if not absolutely 
exclusive. Every American child should have an 
American education in the mutual interest of the child 
and the commonwealth. 

Rome is the only organization, political, civil or re- 
ligious, which, in its organic capacity, denies to children 
the right of public popular education — of an education 
untrammeled by ecclesiasticism. In this is Rome, right 
or wrong? 

The parent or priest who would lay bare the infant- 
ile brain, and with scalpel eliminate the noble self- 
asserting liberty-inspiring organs by anatomical extir- 
pation, would do no more serious injury to the child or 
the commonwealth than is being done by priest and 
parent in the superstition-filling, spirit-crushing, big- 
otry-enthusing, and unpatriotic teaching imparted to 
pupils in Roman Catholic parochial schools. 

American liberty does not assure license to teach 
political heresy, or error in the interest, or at the insti- 
gation of domestic or foreign Churches, be they Mormon 
or Roman, Methodist or Buddist, Christian or Heathen. 

While parochial schools continue in this country 
their text books and system of teaching should be sub- 
ject to inspection, correction, revision and rejection, 



ROM CORTEZ TO DIAZ. 271 

and tne schools brought fully under the control of 
Superintendents of Public Instruction. 

If therein is taught no doctrines dangerous to the 
state such inspection and revision would not be objec- 
tionable; but if for any reason it should bear so hard 
upon any teacher or pupil, be he citizen, resident or 
visiting foreigner, that it became unendurable it would 
be a relief to know that the right and privilege of emnii- 
gration has never been and probably never will be 
denied to such a sufferer in this free country. Still let 
him avoid Mexico where, thovigh the people are Roman 
Catholics, they yet have excluded priests from public 
politics, and from any control of the public schools and 
where attendance at the same is compulsory. Centuries 
of priestly dominion and exactions taught Mexican states- 
men and patriots many useful political truths. Shall 
not American statesmen and patriots share in that in- 
struction? 

Our constitutions certainly carry, inherently, the 
right of self-preservation. A glorious sight trulj' to 
Americans when Leo XIII., SatoUi, y otro Dagos re- 
model state constitutions and shape legislation. I^et 
Rome beware of the fate of Uzza, who laid profane 
hands upon "Izrael's sacred Ark." Should Rome viodel 
our constitutions Jefferson would fail to see in their 
letter and spirit his patriotic work. Franklin would see 
his st»atesmanship destroyed, and Washington would 
think his generalship, courage, persistence and patriot 
ism, had all been in vain. 

Another grave peril to America, as well as to good 
government everywhere, is the absolution and indul- 
gence false theology of the Church of Rome. It is the 
positive enemy of the state, having the direct tendency 



272 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 

to corrupt public as well as private morals, and 
should be crushed out by law as were the corrupt prac- 
tices of the mormons of Utah. 

Suppose some capitalized Protestant Church Assur- 
ance Company should follow the spirit of the recent en- 
cj^clical of Pope L,eo XIII. to the English people, and 
advertise that for a consideration they would assure 
complete and full indulgence, "once a month," in sin 
and crime, the specific offence being subject to the will 
and wish of the assured, regardless of any moral or civil 
tenet, decree or statutory enactment to the contrary, 
and thus suspend, annul and abrogate God's divine 
moral law as well as the statutes of the state; would it be 
tolerated by Church or state? 

All should be treated alike. Rome should have no 
special license to dishonor God, encourage crime, cor- 
rupt public morals, and humbug guilty dupes. I,etthe 
good sense and the high moral sentiments of the un- 
romanized American conscience be chrystalized into 
law to that end, adding thereby statutory enactment, to 
pure religious teaching and moral suasion, thus defend- 
ing our America from the immoral and criminal teach- 
ing of Rome. 

There are ten commandments, recognized as from 
God by Hebrew and Christian, by Unitarian and Trini- 
tarian, by Romist and Protestant. A man, the pope of 
Rome, says any one or all of these commandments may 
be ignored, violated, broken, without consequent guilt 
or punishment for a consideration to be specified by 
himself. 

An indulgence, a plenary, which, is full and com- 
plete, indulgence contemplates a violation of God's 
law, else rvo indulgence is needed, and its proffer is 



FROM CORTEZ TO DIAZr 273 

illogical and absurd. A good or sinless act in contem- 
plation requires no indulgence; only bad or sinful acts 
are associate with indulgence, therefore its proffer, on 
the part of the first party the pope, premises the- com- 
mission of sin, on the part of the second party the ac- 
ceptor of the conditions. Thus the pope assumes to 
annul God's law for a consideration. Is that pure and 
true religious teaching? What say the members of the 
Romish Church? What says Protestantism? What say 
Americans? 

Take a case. An Euglish husband lusts after a 
maid. Every divine, moral and civil law says that the 
gratification of his passion would be criminal. While 
deliberating in fear of law, and held in check by con- 
science, the husband hears the Pope's offer, to-wit. : Say 
certain prayers for the unity of the English with the 
Romish Church and you may have plenary, or full and 
complete indulgence ' 'once a month. " He accepts, says 
the prayers and consummates his lustful desires. Let 
all Catholicism answer; is the adulterer exonorated 
from heinous guilt on the proffer and by the agency of 
the pope? What say the priests, the bishops, the arch- 
bishops and cardinals of Rome, in this dawn of the 
twentieth century of Christ? 

What a base state of personal morals must abide in 
the very character of Leo XIII., Pope of Rome, to 
prompt him to thus let loose the murderer, the thief, 
the blasphemer, the seducer and the libertine to prey 
upon the commonwealth of Protestant England. If 
that country is not thereby reduced to the deplorable 
moral standard of Italy, credit should be given to 
Protestant education and morals. 

It would be humorous, if not so disgustingly 



274 HISTORY OF MEXICAN POLITICS 

criminal, to see the alleged vice-gerent of God thus 
offer and barter the right to commit sin and crime as an 
inducement to people to pray for the increase of his 
dominion in England. What next from the illogical, 
blasphemous dago of Rome? 

Wisely construing the spirit of the constitution 
which says: "Congress shall make no law respecting 
an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free 
exercise thereof." Congress prohibited the claimed 
right of Mormons to persist in time honored immoral 
practices, though clothed in the guise of religion. I,et 
the same interposition of constitutional power overthrow 
mediaeval, dark age, immoral practices of Rome, though 
in the cloak of religion and promoted by Leo XIII. and 
his priestly marshals. Mormon's practiced indulgences, 
Leo peddles the same. 

Rome has been losing, losing, losing upon each 
battlefield in the centuries of her contest with good gov- 
ernment, pure morals and education. In Mexico she 
has fallen under the wheels of the car of progress, and 
by her own children has been crushed lower than if in 
contest with Protestantism; for the lessons of extortion 
and oppression were well learned in the centuries of 
hard experience. So they were ruthlessly applied 
when the people's turn came, and the Church was the 
victim. 

The United States is Rome's last hope. Here she 
expects to recoup for her losses in all the world beside, 
deeming our liberality to be her opportunitv. 

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 



BOOK II 

HISTORY OF TEXAS 

AND OF 

THE MEXICAN WAR. 



History of Texas and Mexican War, 



BOOK II. 



CHAPTER I. 



Introduction to Book II. 

NO HISTORY of Mexican politics would be com- 
plete without the stating of prominent truths re- 
lating to the independence of Texas, the annexa- 
tion of that state to the American Union and the war 
between Mexico and the United States. The involve- 
ment of the slavery question in its various aspects and 
interests cast such a shade of prejudice over the above 
named transactions at the time of their occurrence that 
an impartial history of the facts can scarcely be found 
and the American mind even to this day is so affected 
by histories heretofore written touching these matters, 
that it may be impossible to secure acceps to public 
candor in any attempt to remove or correct those preju- 
dices and prepossessions at this time. 

Yet, as one who carried a musket as an American 
volunteer soldier in the war with Mexico, the compiler 
of facts hereinafter presented feels a sense of duty rest- 
ing upon him to assert that great injustice is done when 
the United States and her gallant and conquering armj^ 
who achieved victory in Mexico in 1846-8 are written 
down as wrong-doers. 



4 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

Mexico imposed upon Texas more of the grievances 
and outrages of misrule than did England upon the 
American colonies. Texas endured with patience, 
hoping and petitioning for a return to the methods of 
the constitution, and with assurances of an unswerving 
fealty to Mexico, made her appeals for redress. 

Regardless of constitution, of right or pledge, the 
outrages continued, until beyond the bounds of endur- 
ance and finally culminated in the sending of an army 
which invaded Texas, to subdue the people by force. 
This army acknowledged no principle of action but the 
base will of Santa Anna, the dictator; and had for its 
object the slaughter of all who would not surrender all 
individual and constitutional rights. This left the 
people no alternative but disgraceful submission or an 
honorable struggle for independence. 

Then the people in an orderly manner proceeded to 
sever their political relations with the outrageously 
offending nation, and with a wonderful display of mar- 
tial power, defeated the Mexican army in one campaign, 
captured their oppressor, the Mexican president, secured 
their independence by a treaty mutual in its terms, 
obligations and benefits, assumed their place among 
independent nations, and maintained their nationality 
for nine years without any attempt on the part of Mexico 
to re-establish its authority over the lost province. 

The United States had the right to treat with Texas 
for political unity, regardless of the wishes or threats of 
Mexico and without consulting Spain either, which 
country had not yet assumed national amenities with 
its successfully rebellious Mexican people. 

"When annexation was consummated the Mexican 
government, people and army, took such action that 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 5 

war was unavoidable and justifiable on the part of the 
United States. The war was conducted on the highest 
civilized principles, was brought to a close on the first 
possible opportunity and on the most equitable terms 
consistent with the principles of justice and refined 
civilization, and the results upon progress, human 
rights and good government have been so manifest that 
any and all who contributed thereto should be regarded 
as benefactors of their own country, as well as of "the 
rest of mankind. ' ' 




CHAPTER II.— TEXAS. 



1684 TO 1836. 

DiSCOVER'Y AND OCCUPATION OF TeXAS — CHANGES 

OwNESiS — Jointly With Coahuila a Mexican 
State — Wants Separate Statehood — Suffers 
Outrages From Santa Anna, Mexican Dic- 
tator — Defends and Defeats — Provisional 
Government — Captures the Alamo — Battles 
AND Outrages — Declaration of Independence. 

TEXAS, containing nearly three hundred thousand 
square miles of territory and extending seven 
hundred and forty miles north and south and 
eight hundred and twenty-five miles east and west, 
greatest distances considered, and reaching from the 
Sabine to the Rio Grande, was the home and the hunt- 
ing grounds of unknown Indian tribes when Cortez 
with his few hundreds o^ Spaniards conquered the 
Aztecs. 

In 1684 the French explorer, La Salle, descended 
the Mississippi river, and at its mouth took possession 
in the name of I^ouis XIV. , king of France, of the 
entire region. Hence the name lyouisiana, as applied 
to that then unbounded domain. In 1687 a French 
settlement was founded'^at Matagorda bay, but in 1690 
Spaniards in superior numbers drove out the French 
and established colonies in the country, which they 
named New Phillipines, but the Comanche and Apache 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 7 

Indians harassed the settlers and greatly retarded their 
success. 

In 1762 lyouisiana was ceded to Spain by the 
French, but in 1802 it was returned to Napoleon Bona- 
parte, then first consul of France; and in 1S03 he, with- 
out taking formal possession, sold it to the United 
States. While the boundaries were not specifically 
mentioned, it was considered that the Louisiana pur- 
chase embraced Texas. So settlements were immedi- 
ately begun in the new territory, and within fifteen 
years there were nearly 10,000 Americans settled there, 
and efforts were made to hold the country against 
S;^ain, which claimed that the land transferred to 
F/ance in 1802 did not include Texas. In the contests 
which ensued more than 2,500 Americans and Hispano 
Mexicans were killed. The revolution of 18 10 gave 
opportunity for lawlessness and hostilities which was 
fully improved. 

But in the year 18 19 these residents of Texas were 
greatly surprised to learn that the United States, when 
purchasing Florida from Spain, had surrendered Texas 
to that country in the treaty. They made a vigorous 
protest to the government at Washington, wherein they 
stated that they had supposed themselves to be safe 
under the protection of the government of the United 
States, and now they found themselves suddenly "aban- 
doned to the dominion of the crown of Spain and left a 
prey to all those exactions which Spanish rapacity is 
fertile in devising by a treaty, to which they were not a 
party." Their protest of course was fruitless of results. 
The Spanish authorities in Mexico, however, mani- 
fested a disposition to welcome their newly acquired 
citizens and enacted such laws, having the object to 



8 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

encourage immigration, that the American-born popula- 
tion of the province of Texas soon became reconciled, 
numerous and prosperous. 

The leading pioneer in Texas colonization was 
Moses Austin, a native of Connecticut, who in 1821 
obtained leave from the government to plant a colony. 
He died soon after, and in obedience to his request his 
son, Stephen Austin, proceeded to the country, selected 
a site for a colony between the Brazos and the Colorado, 
and before the close of the year the hum of industry 
broke the silence of the wilderness. 

As the grant had been made by the Spanish 
authorities of Mexico, it became necessary on the 
change of government to have the grant confirmed. 
Austin went to the City of Mexico for that purpose. 
The confirmation was obtained first from Iturbide and 
afterwards from the federal government. The absence 
of Austin caused the partial abandonment of the colony, 
but his return again started the work, and in twelve 
years the settlement contained 10,000 people. 

In May, 1824, Texas became provisionally annexed 
to Coahuila until its population and prosperity should 
entitle it to a separate state organization, and in August 
the two provinces united and became one of the states 
of the Mexican republic. 

On the 24th of March, 1825, the state colonization 
law was passed, under which grants were made to 
empressarios or contractors, the greater number of whom 
were from the United States. The object of the law 
was to secure immigrants. The terms were favorable 
and the encouragement great. So under the extraordi- 
nary efforts thus made by the Mexican' government, 
many new colonies were formed, chiefly by former citi- 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 9 

zens of the United States. By one of the terms of the 
contracts, all newcomers were to possess a certificate of 
membership in the Roman Catholic church, otherwise 
they could not acquire title to their lands; schools and 
churches of that faith were also provided for. 

Peace and prosperity prevailed with the exception 
of some Indian troubles up to 1826, when some dis- 
appointed applicants for land inaugurated a movement 
to throw off the Mexican yoke and establish a republic 
by the name of Fredonia. Austin and a large number 
of bona fide settlers assisted in the suppression of this 
outbreak. The movement, however, had a marked 
effect upon the feelings and policy of the Mexican gov- 
ernment towards American immigration. Troops were 
sent into the country under various pretexts, until in 
1832 they numbered 1,300. 

Other causes conspired to increase the jealousy of 
Mexico and alarm her for the eventual security of Texas. 
In 1827 the minister from the United States was directed 
to offer Mexico $1,000,000, and two years after "to go 
as high as $5,000,000" for a boundary between the 
high-lands of the Nueces and the Rio Grande, stating 
that there was "a deep conviction of the real necessity 
of the proposed acquisition which would guard the 
western frontier, protect New Orleans and secure un- 
disputed possession of the Mississippi river. ' ' Instead 
of receiving these propositions with favor, Mexico had 
an increase of jealousy which was shown by a law pub- 
lished in 1830, evidently directed against Texas, and 
which suspended many contracts already made, and 
prohibited the entrance of people from the United States 
unless furnished with a Mexican passport. This rigorous 
and unforseen enactment subjected many immigrants 



lo ' HISTORY OF TEXAS 

to great injury and loss. Many who had already 
settled were denied titles to land, and others who had 
abandoned their homes in the United States were 
ordered on their arrival to leave the country, this being 
the first intimation which they received of the existence 
of the law. At the same time the garrisons in Texas 
were increased and civil authority began to be super- 
ceded by martial law. 

The commandants of the garrisons illegally took 
into their own hands the enforcement of the anti- 
immigration laws of 1830, committed violent and arbi- 
trary acts in contravention of state law and authority, 
and infringed upon the personal liberties of the people. 

In 1 83 1 a state commissioner was arrested while 
he, in pursuance of his official duty, was putting settlers 
in possession of their lands. Peaceful and respectable 
citizens were arrested simply because they had rendered 
themselves obnoxious to military officers, one of whom 
was the gallant and patriotic Travis, who afterwards 
defended the Alamo and became a martyr to Texan 
independence. Incensed by these lawless acts, the 
colonists assembled to the number of 150 men, and led 
by John Austin, respectfully applied for the release of 
the prisoners. A refusal was given and the prisoners 
were subjected to the outrage of being pinioned to the 
ground.- An attack was then made upon the garrison. 
After a battle and a parley the Texans had success and 
secured the release of the prisoners and the surrender 
of the troops and fort. In the entire affair eleven 
Texans were killed and fifty-two wounded, twelve of 
them mortally. Of the 125 Mexicans who composed 
the garrison, about one-half were killed and seventeen 
lost their hands by the skillful use of rifles in the hands 



AND MEXICAN WAR. il 

of Texans, who shot at the hands of the cannoners as 
they attempted to fire the artillery. Thus on the 26th 
of June, 1832, took place the first collision of settlers 
and Mexican soldiers. 

During these events the revolution in Mexico was 
in progress, which resulted in the overthrow of Busta- 
mente and the restoration of the federal constitution 
Avhich had been subverted by him. Santa Anna 
acquired his first influence in national affairs, restored 
Pedraza and was himself elected to the presidency in 
1833. He assumed absolute power and dictated the 
policies of Mexico regarding Texas until the independ- 
ence of the latter was secured. 

In April, 1833, representatives of the people of 
Texas met at San Felipe de Austin — now Austin, the 
capital of Texas, and petitioned the Mexican govern- 
ment for the erection of Texas into a state, giving good 
and sufiicient reasons for their action and petition. 
They represented the fact that Texas possessed the 
necessary elements for a state government, which she 
asked might be given her in accordance with the 
guarantees of the act of May 7, 1824. For 'her attach- 
ment to the federal constitution and to the republic the 
petitioaiers pledged their lives and honor. 

Stephen F. Austin took this memorial to Mexico, 
where he arrived soon after the accession of Santa Anna 
to the presidency. He was misunderstood, delayed 
and refused. He wrote to the municipality of Bexar, 
recommending that the people of Texas should immedi- 
ately organize a state government as the only course 
that could save them from anarchy and destruction. 
After being unfavorably commented on by Texans, the 
letter was sent to the Mexican government. Orders 



12 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

were issued for the arrest of Austin, which were exe- 
cuted at Saltillo, 600 miles from the capital, where he 
was found en route to his home. He was taken to the 
City of Mexico, imprisoned in a dungeon, and for more 
than a year was refused the privilege of speaking to or 
corresponding with any one. It was only at the end of 
two years and a half , in September, 1835, that he was 
permitted to return to his home, having witnessed 
during his captivity the usurpations of Santa Anna and 
the overthrow of the federal constitution of 1824. 

The arbitrary proceedings of Santa Anna and the 
collision between him and congress had divided public 
sentiment in Mexico, and Texas experienced the ill 
effects of the issues. Two parties sprung up among the 
Americans, one for proclaiming the province an inde- 
pendent state of the Mexican federation at every hazard, 
the other wishing to obtain a state government by con- 
stitutional methods without resorting to revolution. 
None, however, sustained the arbitrary measures of 
Santa Anna. When the intelligence of the "Plan of 
Toluca" reached Texas, together with the favor it re- 
ceived from the usurping authorities of Mexico, it be- 
came evident to the people that the federal system of 
1824 was to be dissolved by force; that the vested rights 
of Texas under the constitution were to be disregarded 
and violated and that the liberties of the people were to 
have no better guarantee than the capricious will of 
their most bitter enemies. 

Hitherto the great majority of Texans had opposed 
violent measures; they had repeatedly declared them- 
selves ready to discharge their duties as faithful citizens 
of Mexico, attached by interest and inclination to the 
federal contract, and they consoled themselves under 



AND MEXICAN WAR, 13 

the many evils they had suffered with tlie hope that 
they would soon have the benefit of a good local gov- 
ernment by the acknowledgment of Texas as an inde- 
pendent member of the Mexican Union, nor was it until 
the course of events demonstrated the fallacy of this 
hope that they yielded to despondency or planned for 
resistance. 

When Stephen Austin returned to Texas from his 
imprisonment in Mexico, on his advice committees of 
safety were organized and the people resolved to insist 
on their rights under the constitution of 1824. In the 
meantime Santa Anna was concentrating troops for the 
invasion of Texas, and the old barracks at Matamoras, 
Goliad and San Antonio de Bexar were being prepared 
to receive large re-enforcements. The constitutional 
governor of Coahuila and Texas was deposed by the 
military and a new one appointed by Santa Anna, and 
the commandant at Bexar was ordered to march into 
Texas and capture offensive persons, to disarm citizens 
and to provide for a complete military control of the 
country. 

Satisfied that the moment for decisive action had 
arrived, the central committee of safety called the 
people to arms to defend themselves, their rights, their 
homes and their country. 

On the 3d of November a general convention of 
delegates assembled at San Felipe, Austin, and on the 
7th adopted a declaration of rights setting forth the 
reasons which had impelled Texas to take up arms and 
the objects for which she contended. After setting 
forth, as causes of the present hostile position of Texas, 
the overthrow of the federal institutions of Mexico and 
the dissolution of the social compact which had existed 



14 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

between Texas and the otlier members of the con- 
federacy, the declaration asserted that the people "had 
taken up arms in defense of their rights and liberties, 
which were threatened by the encroachments of military 
despots and in the defense of the republican principles 
of the federal constitution of Mexico. ' ' Moreover, the 
compact of union entered into by Texas and Coahuila 
with Mexico was declared to have been broken by the 
latter, and to be no longer binding on Texas; yet the 
people pledged themselves to continue faithful to the 
Mexican government so long as that nation should 
adhere to the constitution and laws under whose guaran- 
tees Texas had been settled and had become a member 
of the Mexican republic. 

The convention also proceeded to the formation and 
adoption of a plan for a provisional government of Texas, 
and chose Henry Smith governor, with ample executive 
power, and Samuel Houston commander-in-chief of the 
army. General Austin was appointed commissioner to 
the United States. 

When Santa Anna with his army had suppressed 
the constitutional party in Zacatecas in May, 1835, and 
found himself without armed opposition, except in 
Texas, he concentrated his forces for the conquest of 
that part of his dominions. But the Texans met force 
with force, and defeated a detachment of the Mexican 
army on the 28th of September, near the town of Gon- 
zales, and on the 8th of October they captured Goliad 
with its garrison. Emboldened by these successes they 
concentrated their forces and laid siege to San Antonio 
de Bexar, where the Mexicans had a force in the city as 
well as in the famous Alamo, the whole numbering 
1300, while the Texans could muster only 500 men. 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 15 

At daylight on the morning of the nth of Decem- 
ber, the black and red flag which had been waving 
from the Alamo during the siege, in token of no quarter, 
was withdrawn, and a flag of truce was sent to the 
Texans, indicating a desire to capitulate. Soon terms 
were agreed upon. General Cos and his officers were 
allowed to retire to Mexico on their paroles of honor, 
they would not in any way oppose the re-establishment 
of the federal constitution of 1824, and the troops were 
allowed to go or stay at will. On the 15th General Cos 
with his humiliated followers commenced the march to 
the interior, and in a few days not a Mexican soldier 
was to be seen from the Sabine to the Rio Grande. 

Tills defeat exasperated Santa Anna and he concen- 
trated a force of 8,000 men, with a large artillery train 
on the Rio Grande, personally took the command and 
directing General Urrea with a division to sweep the 
country from Matamoras along the coast in the direction 
of Goliad, he marched with the main force upon Bexar. 
The Texans divided their forces, leaving only 150 men, 
under command of Colonel Travis, to defend the Alamo, 
while others, to the number of about 500, were with 
Colonel Fannin at Goliad. Santa Anna laid siege to the 
Alamo on February 23d. 

Colonel Travis with his little band defended against 
more than 4,000 Mexicans. He wrote to the Texan 
commander for re-enforcements, declaring his intention 
to defend to the utmost. He said, "I will never sur- 
render nor retreat. I am determined to sustain myself 
as long as possible, and die like a soldier who never for- 
gets what is due to hie own honor and that of his 
country." 

Soon after midnight, on the 6th of March, the en- 



1 6 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

tire army, commanded by Santa Anna in person, sur- 
rounded the Alamo for the purpose of taking it by storm 
at any cost; and amidst the discharge of musketry and 
artillery the advance was made towards the fort. Twice 
repulsed in their attempts to scale the walls, they were 
again impelled to the assault by the exertions of their 
officers; and borne onward by the presure from the 
rear they mounted the walls and, in the expressive 
language of an eye witness, they "tumbled over like 
sheep." Then commenced the last struggle. Travis 
received a shot as he stood on the wall cheering on his 
men; and as he fell a Mexican officer rushed forward to 
despatch him. Summoning up his powers for a final 
effort, Travis met his assailant with a thrust of his sword 
and both expired together. 

The brave defenders of the fort, overborne by multi- 
tudes and unable in the throng to load their fire arms, 
continued the combat with the butt ends of their rifles 
until only seven were left, and these were refused 
quarter. Of all the persons in the place only two were 
spared, a Mrs. Dickerson and a negro servant of the 
commandant's. Colonel James Bowie was murdered in 
his sick-bed, and the eccentric David Crockett of Ten- 
nessee lay dead, surrounded by victims of his personal 
prowess. 

The bodies of the dead were stripped, thrown into 
a heap and burned, after being subjected to brutal in- 
dignities. Santa Anna and his brother-in-law, General 
Cos, each thrust their swords and daggers into the 
bodies of officers. Travis especially had his face and 
limbs mutilated. No authenticated account of the Mexi- 
can loss has been obtained, but it has been variously 
estimated at from i,ooo to 1,500. 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 17 

While these events were taking place at E.xar, a 
general convention of delegates had assembled at Wash- 
ington, on the Brazos, in obedience to a call of the pro- 
visional government, for the purpose of considering the 
question whether Texas should continue to struggle for 
theVe-establishment of the Mexican federal constitution 
of 1824, or make a Declaration of Independence and form 
a republican governme-nt. On the 2d of March, 1836, 
the convention agreed unanimously to a Declc ration of 
Independence, in which the provocations which .^ed to it 
were recited, and the necessity and justice of the neas- 
ure ably vindicated. "The Mexican government," the 
Declaration asserted, "by its colonization laws, invited 
and induced the Anglo-American population of Texas 
to colonize its wilderness, under the pledged faith of a 
written coustitution, that they should continue to enjoy 
that constitutional liberty and republican government to 
which they had been habituated in the land of their 
birth, the United States of America. 

'In this expectation they have been cruelly disap- 
pointed, inasmuch as the Mexican people have acqui- 
esced in the late changes in the government made by 
General Antonio I^opez de Santa Anna, who, having 
overturned the constitution of his country, now offers to 
us the cruel alternatives, either to abandon our homes, 
acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most 
intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the 
sword and the priesthood. ' ' 

After a recapitulation of the numerous grievances 
endured from Mexican mal-administration and faithless- 
ness, the Declaration thus continues: "These and other 
grievances were patiently borne by the people of Texas, 
until they reached that point at which forbearance 



i8 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

ceased to be a virtue. We then took up arms in defense 
of the national constitution. We appealed to our Mexi- 
can brethren for assistance; our appeal has been made 
in vain. Though months have elapsed, no sympathetic 
response has yet been heard from the interior. We are 
consequently forced to the melancholy conclusion that 
the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction 
of their liberty, and the substitution, therefor, of a mili- 
tary government. The necessity of self-preservation 
now decrees our eternal political separation. We, there- 
fore, the delegates of Texas, with plenary powers, in 
solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid 
world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby re- 
solve and Deci,are, that our political connection with 
the Mexican nation has forever ended; and that the peo- 
ple of Texas do now constitute a Free Sovereign, and 
Independent Repubwc, and are fully invested with 
all the rights and attributes which properly belong to 
independent states; and conscious of the rectitude of our 
intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the is- 
sue to the decision of the Supreme Arbiter of the desti- 
nies of nations. 




■-■ii^^ -'^j 



chaptp:r III. 



1S36 TO 1845. 

Constitution Adoptkd — Statb: Government Or 
GANizED — Inaugural, Address — Mexican 
Troops Sweep the State — Santa Anna Pre- 
PARiis TO Re;turn to Mexico — Battee oe San 
Jacinto — Santa Anna Defeated and Captured 
— Treaty — Independence of Texas — Santa 
Anna Visits President Jackson — Sent to 
Mexico — Peace and Independence — Reccog- 
nized by the United States, France and 
England — Annexed to the United States. 

FIFTY delegates subscribed the Declaration, and on 
the 17th of March, 1836, a constitution forthe Re- 
public of Texas was adopted, and executive officers 
were appointed to perform the duties of the government 
until the first election under the constitution. David G. 
Burnett, the son of an officer of the American Revolu- 
tion, was appointed provisional president. 

In his inaugural address he reminded the delegates 
of their duties and of the glorious enterprise in which 
they were engaged, referred to the inheritance of 
gallantry descending to them from 1776; and e.Korted 
them to unite as brothers with a single eye to the one 
Qoramon object, the redemption of Texas. He said, "We 
are about as we trust to establish a name among the na- 
tions of the earth; let us be. watchful, that this name 



20 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

.shall not inflict a mortification upon the illustrious peo- 
ple from whom we have sprung nor entail reproach 
upon our decendants. 'We are acting for posterity; and 
while, with a devout reliance on the God of battles, 
we shall roll back the flood that threatens to deluge 
our borders, let us present to the world such evidences 
of our moral and political rectitude as will compel the 
respect, if not constrain the sympathies of other and 
older nations. The day and the hour has arrived 
when every free-man must be up and doing his duty. 
The Alamo has fallen; the gallant few who so long sus- 
tained it have jdelded to the overwhelming power of 
numbers; and, if our intelligence be correct, they have 
perished in one indiscriminate slaughter; but they per- 
ished not in vain! The ferocious tyrant has purchased 
his triumph over one little band of heroes at a costly 
price; and a few such victories would bring down speedy 
ruin upon himself. Let us, therefore, fellow citizens, 
take courage from this glorious disaster; and while the 
smoke from the funeral piles of our bleeding and burn- 
ing brothers ascends to heaven, let us implore the aid of 
an incensed God, who abhors iniquity, who ruleth in 
righteousness and will avenge the oppressed. ' ' 

While Santa Anna was operating against San An- 
tonio de Bexar, Urrea in obedience to orders moved 
along the coast, meeting with but little resistance from 
parties sent out for the assistance of families removing 
to places of safety. In all encounters he was successful 
and captured many small parties, all of whom he in- 
variably put to death. Colonel Fannin, having depleted 
his force by sending out detachments, finding that Ur- 
rea was moving upon Goliad with greatly superior num- 
bers, attempted a retreat, was surrounded and compelled 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 21 

to surretider. He was taken back to Goliad , where were 
finally assembled about 400 prisoners. These were all 
cruelly put to death with the exception of a fortunate 
few, who escaped. These butcheries were made under 
orders of Santa Anna in accordance, as he afterwards 
declared, with a law of the supreme government. Inas- 
much as he was at that time substantially the govern- 
ment, he was therefore not exculpated; and the massacre 
of Fannin and his companions in arms stamps with in- 
famy the government of Mexico and all officers con- 
cerned in the act. 

From the hour that the fate of Travis and Fannin 
and their brave comrades became known, a spirit was 
awakened among the hardy population of the west which 
would never have slumbered while a Mexican soldier 
remained east of the Rio Grande. It was this which led 
to a rapid influx of Americans into Texas; and though 
they were not required to secure her independence, they 
aided in strengthening the military resources of the na- 
tion, and thus discouraged the Mexicans from making 
any further systematic attempts to subdue the country, 
The barbarities of the Mexicans also excited sympathy 
throughout the United States, and thus largely prepared 
the way for the entrance of Texas into the American 
Union. 

But Santa Anna entertained no sentiments of sym- 
pathy for the sufferings or wrongs inflicted upon the 
Texans. On the contrary, he was highly elated with 
the success which had followed his campaigns; and, 
under the impression that the people would make no 
further resistance, he began to apportion his forces to 
different quarters for taking complete military posses- 
sion of Texas. One division was sent to San Felipe de 



22 HISTORY OF TEXA^ 

Austin, another to Goliad, and a third to the post of 
Nacogdoches near the American frontier. 

Believing that his presence in the country was not 
necessary, he made preparations to turn the, com.mand 
over to General Filsola and start on the istof April for 
the City of Mexico. He, however, abandoned for a time 
his own departure and the movement of his forces, that 
he might pursue and dispose of the last remaining 
Texan army, which, under the command of General 
Houston, was concentrating near the head of Galveston 
Bay. 

In due time he drew near to this last force of the 
enemy, and after some skirmishing the two armies con- 
fronted each other on the banks of the San Jacinto, on 
the 2oth of April, and encamped for the night. About 9 
o'clock on the morning of the 21st, General Cos re-en- 
forced Santa Anna, bringing his numbers up to nearly 
1600 men, while Houston had 783. At 3:30 o'clock 
Houston ordered a parade of his forces, having previ- 
ously destroyed the bridges on the only road to the 
Brazos, thus cutting off escape for the Mexicans should 
they be defeated. The troops paraded with alacrity and 
spirit. The disparity in numbers increased their en- 
thusiasm and heightened their anxiety for the conflict. 
The order of battle being formed, the calvary, sixty-one 
in number, commanded by Colonel Mirabeau B. I^amar, 
moved to the front of the enemy's left, for the purpose 
of attracting their attention, while the main body ad- 
vanced rapidly in line, the artillery consisting of two six 
pounders, taking station within 200 yards of the enemy's 
breastwork. With the exception of the cannon, which 
vigorously discharged grape and canister, not a gun was 
fired by the Texans until they were within close range 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 23 

of the enemy's lines, when the war cry, ^'Remember the 
Alamo!'' was raised. The inspiration of that cry, the 
memory of the death of their comrades, and the fact that 
the murderers were now before them, increased their zeaB 
and courage to a frenzy. They rushed in one desperate 
charge upon the enemy's works, and after a conflict of 
twenty minutes gained entire possession of the encamp- 
ment with the artillery, colors, camp equipage, stores 
and baggage. Such was the suddenness, desperation 
and violence of the onset that the Mexicans were panic- 
stricken, and in dismay threw down their arms and fled 
in confusion. The Texan cavalry fell upon the fugitives 
and cut them down by platoons. Never was a route more 
total or a victory more complete. The whole Mexican 
army was annihilated. Scarcely a single soldier es- 
caped. Of nearly 1600 men who commenced the action, 
630 were killed, 208 wounded, and 730 captured; while 
of the Texans only eight were killed, and seventeen 
wounded. On the next day Santa Anna, disguised as a 
common soldier, was made prisoner while hiding in the 
timber. Not knowing his name, his captors at hi-s 
request conveyed him to General Houston, who had 
been wounded in the ankle, and was slumbering on a 
blanket at the foot of a tree, with his saddle for a pillow. 
Santa Anna approached, pressed his hand (giving, it is 
said, the grip of a world-wide secret order) and an- 
nounced himself as president of the Mexican republic 
and commander-in-chief of the army. By Houston's de- 
sire he seated himself on a medicine chest, but was 
greatly agitated. Some opium having been given him 
at his request, he swallowed it and appeared more com- 
posed. He then said to Houston, "You were born to no 



24 HISTORY* OF TEXAS 

ordinary destiny; you have conquered the Napoleon of 
the West." 

As far as his having in custody the president and 
absolute dictator of Mexico was concerned, he spoke the 
truth. Santa Anna in his person was the embodiment 
of the Mexican national government, and his will was 
law. He deposed governors and installed rulers, he 
subverted the constitution and substituted his own de- 
crees, and none dared to deny his authority or dictation, 
but Mexican historians call him Napoleon the Little. 
Now he was in the hands of the survivors cf the Texan 
army, a part of which he had murdered without restraint 
of conscience or law, and the question which agitated 
his mind was, what was to be his fate. The same ques- 
tion was raised among the Texan soldiers, and the 
unanimous verdict was, "Let him be put to death as a 
barbarous monster who has forfeited a thousand lives. ' ' 
Only one man stood up against the execution of the 
sentence so universally pronounced, and that was Gen- 
eral Houston, who, while he approved the justice of the 
sentence, nevertheless had in view motives of policy 
and a wish to serve the state. It was only by the exer- 
cise of extraordinary firmness on his part that the life of 
the prisoner was spared. 

After due deliberation the general agreed upon an 
armistice with his prisoner, whereby all Mexican troops 
in Texas were to retire. The leniency shown Santa 
Anna came near disrupting the Texan army, ar. 1 a stop 
was put to the plan of sending the captive president 
back to Mexico, in accordance with the terms of the 
armistice. 

In the meantime President Burnett arrived at the 
camp, and a convention was held between those two 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 25 

presidents, one representing Mexico and the other 
Texas. On the 14th of May, 1836, it was stipulated that 
hOvStilities were immediately to cease between Mexican 
and Texan troops. The Mexican army was to retire be- 
yond the Rio Grande; prisoners were to be exchanged; 
and Santa Anna was to be sent to Vera Cruz as soon as 
should be thought proper. On the same day a treaty 
was signed by the two presidents, stipulating that the 
Mexican cabinet should receive a mission from Texas; 
that a treaty of amity and commerce should be estab- 
lished between the two republics; that the Texan terri- 
tory should not extend beyond the Rio Grande; and 
that the immediate embarkation of Santa Anna for Vera 
Cruz should be provided for; "his prompt return being 
indispensable for the purpose of effecting his engage- 
ments." The release of Santa Anna was, however, still 
opposed and hindered by the army, and it was not until 
December that General Houston, then become president, 
sent him out of the country by way of the United States. 
Santa Anna had previously written to President 
Jackson expressing his willingness to fulfill his stipula- 
tions with the Texan authorities, and requesting his 
mediation. On the i6th of December Santa Anna 
reached Washington, where he held secret conferences 
with the executive, and on the 26th of the same month 
left'the city, being furnished by President Jackson with 
a ship of war to convey him to Vera Cruz, where he ar- 
rived on the 20th of February following, just ten months 
after his capture. He, true to his perfidious nature, im- 
mediately addressed a letter to the minister of war, 
wherein he disavowed all treaties and stipulations what- 
ever, as conditional to his release, and declared that 
rather than have made any he would have suffered a 



26 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

thousand deaths. The Mexican congress had on the 
2oth of May by a decree suspended the presidential 
authority of Santa Anna while he was a prisoner, and 
had given information of the same to the government oi 
the United States. 

The battle of San Jacinto gave peace to Texas, and 
the rank of an independent state among the nations oi 
the earth. On the 3d of March, 1837, her independence 
was recognized by the United States. This was followed 
by recognition and treaties on the part of France in 
1839, and on the part of England in 1840. Mexico, 
however, still maintained a hostile attitude towards her; 
and by repeated threats of invasion kept alive the 
martial spirit of the Texans, but no serious attempt was 
ever made to restore Mexican authority in that state. 

All attempts on the part of Texas to establish treaty 
relations with Mexico were fruitless until 1840, when 
the latter so far abated her opposition as to receive a 
Texan agent, and permit him to submit the basis of a 
treaty; but on the restoration of Santa Anna to power, 
in 1 84 1, Mexico again assumed a war-like attitude, de- 
claring to the world that she would not vary her posi- 
tion " 'till she planted her eagle standard on the banks 
of the Sabine." 

From the independence of Texas to the time when 
she became a state in the American Union, as many in- 
vasions of Mexico by Texan troops were attempted as 
were made or projected by the Mexicans into the terri- 
tory of the lyone Star state, but in each case they were 
fruitless of national results. 

When Texas, sxDon after the battle of San Jacinto, 
asked the United States to recognize her independence, 
it was with the avowed design of treating immediately 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 27 

for the transfer of her territory to the American Union. 
The opinions of President Jackson as expressed by mesr 
sage to congress were, that it woukl be unwise, as it 
might, however unjustly, subject the United States tc 
the imputation of seeking to establish the claim of hei 
neighbor to a territory with a view to its subsequent 
acquisition by herself. He therefore advised that no 
steps be taken until the lapse of time, or the course oi 
events should have proved beyond cavil, or dispute the 
ability of the Texan people to maintain their separate 
sovereignty, and the government constituted by them. 

During the presidency of Mr. Van Buren in 1837, 
another and more formal proposition was made by the 
Texan envoy at Washington to secure annexation. But 
the president earnestly and successfully resivSted any 
favorable action thereon. There was serious antagon- 
istic action taken in several of the states against annexa- 
tion, and the people of Texas were not by any means a 
unit in its favor. But in the presidential election held 
in the United States in 1844, the question of the annexa- 
tion of Texas was in issue, and the matter was favorably 
determined by the election of Mr. Polk, who had 
earnestly approved the measure. The congresses of 
both nations having taken proper .steps to that end, the 
act of union took place, and in 1845 Texas became a 
state in the American Union. 

As Texas was actually independent, that independ- 
ence carried with it all the rights and privileges of 
sovereignty, and she was as capable of disposing of 
herself by treaty as the most independent nation is of 
transferring to another power any part of its territory. 

That the United States, in its sovereign capacity, 
had an undoubted right to enter into the treaty of 



28 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

annexation, notwitiistanding the remonstrances of 
Mexico, and that as between the United States and 
Mexico all this furnished no just ground of complaint 
on the part of the latter is clearly set forth in Marten's 
"Law of Nations," pp. 23-4: "All that is required for 
a state or nation to be entirely free and sovereign is that 
it must govern itself and acknowledge no legislative 
superior but God. If it be totally independent, it is 
sovereign;" and p. 79: "A foreign nation does not 
appear to violate its perfect obligations, nor to deviate 
from the principles of neutrality, if it treats as an inde- 
pendent nation people who haye declared and still 
maintain themselves independent." 

History abounds with examples in which revolted 
provinces have been acknowledged and treated as 
sovereign states by other nations, long before they were 
recognized as such by the states from which they re- 
volted. Mexico herself, which was recognized as inde- 
pendent by the United States in 1821, stood in the view 
of Spain as a revolted province up to 1836, the year of 
Texan independence, when the fact of her separate 
existence as a nation was finally assented to by the 
Spanish government. Notwithstanding these legal 
maxims and facts Mexico by her minister at Washington, 
said, "The Mexican government is resolved to declare 
war as soon as it receives intimation of such an act" — 
annexation of Texas. The annexation being consum- 
mated, it became the right and duty of the United 
States to provide for the defense of her new frontier, and 
especially as she was informed that Mexico would make 
war upon her. The cause of the war was the annexa- 
tion of Texas and not the entrance of General Taylor 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 29 

upon the territory between the Nueces and the Rio 
Grande as urged by some historians. 

That the Rio Grande was the true boundary of the 
newly acquired state is sustained by the facts, that it was 
so set forth in the Texan Declaration of Independence; 
that it was sustained by the success of the revolution; 
that it was so confirmed by the treaty with Santa Anna, 
which TREATY was ratifcd and signed by Filsola, then 
in command of the Northern Mexican army, and that 
Filsola was authorized by letter from the Mexican 
president ad interim to do whatever should be necessary 
to procure the release of Santa Anna and to save his 
troops and munitions of war. The obligations and 
benefits of that treaty were mutual, Texas acquiring 
the independence of all the territory east of the Rio 
Grande; and Mexico saving the army and the life of her 
president. 

That Bustamente who succeeded Santa Anna as 
president repudiated the treaty, cuts no more figure 
than would similar action on the part of President Diaz 
to-day. The threats of Mexico to declare war, the 
hostile spirit manifested by her population and .the 
actual assembling of troops with the title "army of the 
North" and "army of invasion" on her northern 
frontiers, with the avowed object of reconquering the 
whole of Texas, devolved the duty upon the ¥nited 
States to prepare for the threatened war on international 
principles as set forth by the above quoted author, page 
273: "If a sovereign sees himself menaced with an 
attack, he may take up arms to ward off the blow, and 
may even commence the exerci.se of those violences 
that his enemy is preparitig to exercise against him 
without being chargeable with having begun an offen- 



30 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

sive war;" and page 369: "The justificative reasons 
of a war show that an injury has been received, or so 
far threatened as to authorize a prevention of it by 
arms." 

It has been charged that the Anglo-American 
settlers of Texas emigrated to that country with the 
fraudulent design of eventually wresting it from Mexico 
and annexing it to the American Union; and.also that 
the United States countenanced the scheme and per- 
mitted armed bands from the states to join the Texan 
armies. 

Whatever of individual wish and intention may 
have existed as to a final transfer of the territory of 
Texas to the United States by revolution or otherwise, 
certainly no concerted action was had until, in violation 
of both constitutional and statute law, and of personal 
rights on the part of the Mexican government against 
the settlers, a necessity was laid upon the inhabitants 
of Texas to resort to the last right to which oppressed 
people are by nature entitled — revolution: and when 
the issues were made up, the case as presented to the 
world made it a virtue for nations possessed of common 
humanity to act upon international law as presented in 
Vattel's "I^aw of Nations," page 218: "When a people 
from good reasons take up arms against an oppressor, 
justice and generosity require that brave men should be 
assisted in the defense of their liberties. When, there- 
fore, a civil war is kindled in a state, foreign powers 
may assist that party which appears to them to have 
justice on its side." Also Marten's "lyaw of Nations," 
page 80: "Any sovereign prince has a right to lend 
assistance to the party whom he believes to have justice 
on his side. ' ' 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 31 

There are no facts, however, to prove that the 
American govern me fi^ as such countenanced the revolu- 
tion, although it may be admitted with philanthropic 
pride that thousands of American citizens warmly 
sympathized with the revolutionists, and as individuals 
gave them much aid and comfort. They aided Texas 
as they had before aided Mexico in her just revolution. 
But the g-oz'ern men i sent an armed force to the Texan 
frontier to enforce neutrality. 

During her time of independent national existence 
the office of chief magistrate of Texas was held as fol- 
lows: David Burnett appointed provisional president 
in 1836. Sam Houston president from 1836 to 1838. 
Mirabeau B. Lamar from 1838 to 1840. David Burnett 
from 1840 to 1842. Sam Houston from 1842 to 1844. 
Anson Jones from 1844 to date of annexation to the 
United States. 



CHAPTER IV, 



Mkxican War, — 1845 to 1847. 

Mexico Inaugurates War — GeneraIv Taylor Com- 
mands THE American Army — Marches to the 
Rio Grande — Hostilities — Battles op Palo 
Alto and Resaca de la Palma — Call for Vol- 
unteers — Monterey Surrenders — Santa Fe 
Captured — California Occupied — Chihuahua 
Captured — General Winfield Scott and Plan 
OF Campaign — Victory at Buena Vista: 

IN ACCORDANCE with the warlike policy of Mexico, 
Mr. Almonte, the Mexican minister at Washington, 
immediately after the resolution of annexation had 
passed the American congress, protested against the 
measure which he declared Mexico would regard as an 
act of warlike aggression to be resisted by all means 
within her power, demanded his passports and returned 
home. 

On the 4th of July, 1845, Texas assented to the 
terms of the resolution of annexation; and expecting 
that Mexico would carry her threats of war into execu- 
tion, requested the president of the United States to 
occupy the ports of Texas and send an army to the de- 
fense of her territory. Accordingly, an American 
squadron was sent to the gulf of Mexico, and General 
Taylor then in command at Camp Jessup, in the western 
part of Eouisiana, was ordered to the southern part of 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 33 

Texas. By the advice of the Texan authorities he 
located at Corpus Christi, where by the beginning of 
August he had an army of about 4,000 men. 

On the 13th of January, 1S46, when it was believed 
that the Mexicans were assembling troops on their 
northern frontiers with the avowed object of re-conquer- 
ing Texas, and when such information had been re- 
ceived from Mexico as rendered it probable, if not 
certain, that she would refuse to receive Mr. Slidell, the 
envoy, whom the United States had sent to negotiate a 
settlement of the difficulties between the two countries, 
General Taj-lor was ordered to advance his forces to the 
Rio Grande, the southern and the western boundary of 
Texas. 

Aside from the acts specified there already existed 
serious causes for complaints, and in his message to 
congress in 1837, President Jackson declared that they 
would justify, in the eyes of all nations, immediate war. 

Ever since Mexico had been a republic she had 
proved to be a despoiling and unjust neighbor. Civil 
wars had impoverished her treasury and her authorities 
had replenished it b}^ confiscating the property of 
Americans upon land and in the gulf of Mexico. 

After continued remonstrance for years a treaty was 
entered into in 1831, adjustment for damages agreed 
upon and promises made for payment. Notwithstand- 
ing this agressions continued, and in 1840 the aggregate 
amount of American property which had been unlaw- 
fully seized by Mexicans, was more than six millions of 
dollars. 

Eighteen changes had taken place in Mexico in the 
office of chief magistrate, impoverishment and dis- 
honesty had delayed payment and administrations were 



34 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

unwilling to assume obligations of their overthrown 
predecessors, and so the claims remained unsettled 
when the annexation of Texas took place and peaceful 
relations between the United States and Mexico were 
suspended by act of the Mexican administration. 

On the 8th of March the advance column of the 
army under General Twiggs was put in motion, and on 
the 28th of the same month General Taylor, after having 
established a depot at^Point Isabel, twenty-one miles in 
his rear, took his position on the northern bank of the 
Rio Grande, where he hastily erected a fortress called 
Fort Brown, v^'iLliin cannon shot of Matamoras. 

On the 26tli of April the Mexican general, Ampudia, 
gave notice to General Taylor that he considered hostili- 
ties commenced and should prosecute them, and on the 
same day a company of American dragoons commanded 
by Captain Thornton, was attacked while making a 
reconnoisance thirty miles above Fort Brown, on the 
American side of the Rio Grande, when sixteen were 
killed and wounded and the remainder were captured. 
This was the commencement of actual hostilities — the 
first blood shed in the war, although Colonel Trueman 
Cross, cf the quartermaster department, had been mur- 
dered a few days before by a party of Mexican guer- 
rillas. 

The movements of the enemy, who had crossed the 
river above Matamoras, seeming to be directed toward 
an attack on Point Isabel to cut off the Americans from 
their base of supplies, caused General Taylor to move 
to that place on the ist of May with his principal force, 
leaving a small command to defend Fort Brown. After 
having garrisoned the depot, on the 7th of May General 
Taylor set cut on his return. At noon the next day the 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 35 

Mexican ami)-, numbering about 6,000 men, with seven 
pieces of artillery was discovered near Palo Alto, drawn 
up in battle array across the prairie through which the 
advance led. The Americans, only 2,300 in nvimber, 
advanced to the encounter, and after an action of about 
five hours, which was sustained mostly by the artillery, 
drove the enemy from their position and encamped upon 
the field of battle. The Mexican loss was about 100 
killed, that of the Americans but four killed and forty 
wounded, but among those mortally wounded was the 
distinguished Major Ringgold of the artillery. 

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the next da)' the 
American army again advanced, and after a march of 
two hours came up with the enemy, who had taken a 
strong position in a ravine called the Resaca de la 
Palma, three miles from Fort Brown. The action was 
commenced on both sides by the artillery, but the Mexi- 
can guns commanded by General La Vega were in a 
better position for effectiveness than at Palo Alto," and 
their fire was very severe. An order to dislodge them 
was gallantly executed by Captain May at the head of 
a squadron of dragoons which, charging throvigh a 
storm of grape shot, broke the ranks of the enemy, 
killed or dispersed the Mexican artillerymen and took 
General La Vega prisoner. The charge was supported 
by the infantry, the whole Mexican line was routed and 
the enemy fled in confusion, abandoning their guns and 
a quantity of ammunition; and when night closed in 
over the scene not an armed Mexican was to be found 
north of the Rio Grande. The next day the army took 
up its former position at F^ort Brown, w^hich had sus- 
tained with little loss an almost uninterrupted bombard- 
ment of seven days from the Mexican batteries in Mata- 



36 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

moras; nevertlieless, the army mourned the death of 
Major Brown, its gallant defending commander. 

The news of these encounters produced the greatest 
excitement throughout the Union; it was not doubted 
that Mexico would receive a severe chastisement and a 
war spirit, unknown before to exist, heralded in antici- 
pation a series of victories and conquests, terminating 
only in the "Halls of the Montezumas." The presi- 
dent In a message to congress declared that "Mexico 
had invaded our territory and shed the blood of our 
fellow-citizens on our own soil," and congress adopting 
the spirit of the message, after declaring that war ex- 
isted "by act of the republic of Mexico," authorized 
the president to accept the services of 50,000 volunteers 
and placed $10,000,000 at his disposal. 

The call for volunteers was responded to by the 
prompt tender of the services of more than 300,000 men, 
who seemed to anticipate a march to the Mexican 
capital in the ranks of a conquering army, but as a 
pleasant pastime or a holiday excursion. 

Most of the summer of 1846 was occupied by the 
government in preparations for the invasion of Mexico 
from several directions at the same time. A force of 
about 23,000 men was sent into the field, the largest 
part of which, placed under the command of General 
Taylor, was to advance from Matamoras into the 
enemy's country in the direction of Monterey. General 
Wool, at the head of about 3,000 men, concentrated at 
San Antonio de Bexar, was to march upon Chihuahua, 
while General Kearney with a force of about 1,700 men 
was to march from Fort lycaven worth upon Santa Fe, 
the capital of New Mexico. 

The difiiculty attending the removal of supplies 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 



37 



from New Orleans which was his base, made it im- 
possible for General Taylor to commence operations 
actively until the latter part of August. But with his 
accustomed energy he appeared on the 19th of Septem- 
l)^'r before Monterey with 6,600 men, having garrisoned 
his line of communications. Monterey, the capital of 




Generai^ TAY1.0R. 



New Leon, was a city of about 15,000 inhabitants, 
strong in its natural defenses and garrisoned by about 
10,000 troops, regular and irregular, under the com- 
mand of General Ampudia. 

On the morning of the 21st the attack was com- 



38 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

menced, whicli was continued with great spirit during 
the day, with the important results of getting possession 
of the enemy's line of retreat and the capture of two 
strong forts in the rear of the city. The assault was 
continued the next day, when the bishop's palace, a 
strong position and the only remaining fortified height 
in the rear cj; the town, was gallantly carried by the 
troops under General Worth, who was in command of 
operations in the rear of the city. On the morning of 
the 23d the lower part of the city was stormed by Gen- 
eral Quitman, the troops slowly advancing by digging 
through the adobe and stone walls of the houses. 

In the same manner General Worth's troops ap- 
proached the center, and by night the enemy was con- 
fined chiefly to the plaza or central square of the city 
and to the citadel, a strong and scientifically constructed 
work on the north of the place. Early on the morning 
of the 24th the Mexican general submitted propositions 
which resulted in the surrender and evacuation of 
Monterey and an armistice of eight weeks, or until in- 
structions should be received from either of the re- 
spective governments. 

In obedience to orders received from Washington, 
General Taylor on the nth of November gave notice to 
the Mexican general that hostilities would be renewed 
on the 13th instant, and about the middle of the month 
Saltillo, the capital of the state of Coahuila, was occu- 
pied by the division of General Worth. I^ate in Decem- 
ber General Patterson took possession of Victoria, the 
capital of Tamaulipas, while about the same time the 
port of Tampico was captured by Commodore Perry. 

In the meantime General Wool, after crossing the 
Rio Grande, finding his march to Chihuahua in that 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 39 

direction, impeded by the lofty and unbroken range of 
the Sierra Madre, had turned south and joined General 
Worth at Saltillo; while General Kearney, somewhat 
earlier in the season, after having performed a march of 
nearly 1,000 miles across the wilderness, had made 
himself master of Santa Fe and all of New Mexico with- 
out opposition. After General Kearney had established 
a new government in New Mexico, on the 25th of 
September he departed from Santa Fe, at the head of 
400 dragoons, for the California settlements of Mexico, 
bordering on the Pacific ocean. But after having pro- 
ceeded 300 miles and learning that California was 
already in the hands of the Americans, he sent back all 
of his force but 100 men and pursued his way across the 
continent. 

In the early part of December a part of General 
Kearney's command that had marched with him from 
the east, set out from Santa Fe on a southern expedi- 
tion, expecting to form a junction with General Wool 
at Chihuahua. This force, numbering about 900 men, 
was commanded by General Doniphan, and its march 
of more than 1,000 miles through an enemy's country, 
from Santa Fe to Saltillo, is one of the most brilliant 
achievements of the war. During the march this com- 
mand fought two battles against vastly superior forces, 
and in each defeated the enemy. The battle of Bracito, 
fought on Christmas da}', opened an entrance into the 
town of El Paso, while that of the Sacremento, fought 
on the 2Sth of February, 1847, secured the surrender of 
Chihuahua, a city of great wealth, and containing more 
than 40,000 inhabitants. 

While these events were transpiring on the eastern 
borders of the republic, the Pacific coast had become 



40 HIS TOR V OF TEXAS 

the scene of military operations, less brilliant, but more 
important in their results. In the early part of June, 
1846, Captain Fremont, of the topographical engineers, 
while engaged at the head of about sixty men in explor- 
ing a southern route to Oregon, having been first 
threatened with an attack by De Castro, the Mexican 
governor on the California coast, and learning after- 
wards that the governor was preparing an expedition 
against the American settlers near San Francisco, raised 
the standard of opposition to the Mexican government 
in California. 

After having defeated in various engagements 
several greatly superior Mexican forces, on the 4th of 
July Fremont and his companions declared the inde- 
pendence af California. A few days later Commodore 
Sloat, having previously been informed of the com- 
mencement of hostilities on the Rio Grande, hoisted the 
American flag at Monterey. In the latter part of July 
Commodore Stockton ' assumed the command of the 
Pacific squadron, soon after which he took possession 
of San Diego, and in conjunction with Fremont entered 
the city of Los Angeles without opposition; and on the 
22d of August, 1846, the whole of California was in the 
undisputed military possession of the United States. In 
December following, soon after the arrival of General 
Kearney from his overland expedition, the Mexican 
inhabitants of California attempted to regain possession 
of the government, but the insurrection was soon sup- 
pressed. 

It has been stated heretofore that after the close of 
the armistice which succeeded the capture of Monterey, 
the American troops under General Taylor spread them- 
selves over Coahuila and Tamaulipas. In the mean- 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 



41 



time the plan of an attack on Vera Cruz, tlie principal 
Mexican port on the gulf, had been matured at Wash- 
ington,. and General Scott was sent out to take complete 
command of the army in Mexico. By the withdrawal 
of. most of the regulars under General Taylor's com- 
mand for the attack on Vera Cruz, the entire force of 
the Northern American army, extending from Mata- 
moras to Monterey and Saltillo, was reduced to about 
10,000 volunteers and a few companies of the regular 
artillery and cavalry, while at the same time the Mexi- 
can general, Santa Anna, was known to be at San Luis 
Potosi, at the head of 22,oooof the best troops in Mexico, 
prepared to oppose the further progress of General 
Tajdor or to advance upon him in his own quarters. 

In the early part of Februarj^ 1847, General Taylor, 
after leaving adequate garrisons in Monterey and Sal- 
tillo, proceeded with about 5,000 men to Agua Nueva, 
where he rem.ained until the 21st of the month, when 
the advance of Santa Anna, with his whole army, in- 
duced him to fall back to Buena Vista, a very strong 
position a few miles in advance of Saltillo. Here the 
road runs north and south through a narrow defde, 
skirted on the west by impassable gullies, and on the 
cast by a succession of rugged ridges and precipitous 
ravines which extend back nearly to the mountains. On 
the elevated plateau or table-land forn:ed by the con- 
centration of these ridges, General Taylor drew up his 
little army, numbering in all 4,759 men, of whom 
only 453 were regular troops; and here on the 22d of 
February he was confronted by the entire Mexican 
army, then numbering, according to Santa Anna's 
official report, about 17,000 men, but stated by him in 



42 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

his demand for the surrender of the Americans to be 
20,000. 

On the morning of the next day, the 23d of Febru- 
ary, the enemy began the attack with great impetuosity; 
but the resistance was as determined as the assault, and 
after a hard fought battle, which was continued during 
the greater part of the day, the Mexican force was driven 
in disorder from the field, with a loss of more than 1,500 
men. The American loss in killed, wounded and miss- 
ing was 746. Among these twenty-eight officers were 
killed on the field. This important victory broke up 
the army of Santa Anna, and by effectually securing 
the frontier of the Rio Grande, allowed the Americans 
to turn their whole attention and strength to the great 
enterprise of the campaign, the- capture ( f Vera Cruz 
and the march thence to the Mexican capital. 



CHAPTER V. 



1848. 

Scott Captures Vera Cruz — Battle of Cerro 
Gordo — Perote Surrenders — Puebla Occupied 
— Depletion op Army — Re-enforced — "On, ' ' to 
Mexico — First View op City — Detour to Solid 
Ground — Battles of Contreras and Churubus- 
co — Armistice — Fruitless Efforts for Peace — 
Battle op Molino del Rey — Storming op Cha- 
PULTEPEC — The City Occupied — Peace — Num- 
bers OP Army and Navy — lyOSSES — Bivouac op 
THE Dead. 

ON THE 9th of March, 1847, General Winfield 
Scott, in command of an army of 12,000 men, 
landed without opposition a short distance south 
of Vera Cruz in full view of the city and the renowned 
castle of San Juan d'Ulua. On the 12th the investment 
of the city was completed; on the i8th the trenches were 
opened, and on the 2 2d the first batteries began their 
fire at the distance of 800 yards from the city. From the 
2 2d until the morning of the 26th almost one continued 
roar of artillery prevailed, the city and castle batteries 
answering to those of the besiegers, and the shells and 
shot were rained upon the devoted town with terrible 
activity, and with an awful destruction of life and prop- 
erty. At length, just as arrangements had been made 
for an assault, the governor of the city made overtures 
for surrender. On the night of the 27th the articles of 



44 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

capitulation were signed, and on the 2gth the American 
flag was unfurled over the walls of the city and castle. 

The way was now open for the march towards the 
Mexican capital, and on the 8th of April General 
Twiggs was sent forward, leading the advance, on the 
Jalapa road. But Santa Anna, although defeated at 
Buena Vista, had raised another army, and with 12,000 
men had strongly intrenched himself on the heights of 
Cerro Gordo, which completely commanded the only 
road which leads through the mountains into the in- 
terior. General Twiggs reached this position on the 
12th, but it was not until the morning of the i8th, when 
the commander-in-chief and the whole army had arrived, 
that the daring assault was made. Before noon of that 
day every position of the enemy had been stormed in 
succession, and 3,000 prisoners had been taken, together 
with forty pieces of bronze artillery, 5,000 stand of arms, 
with other munitions and materials of war. 

On the day following the battle the army entered 
Jalapa, and on the 22d the strong castle of Perote sur- 
rendered without resistance with its vast armament and 
munitions of war. On the 15th of May the advance 
under General Worth entered the ancient and renowned 
city of Puebla; anr' when the entire army had been 
concentrated there, in the very heart of Mexico, so 
greatly had it been reduced by sickness, deaths, and the 
expiration of terms in the volunteer service, that it was 
found to number only 5,000 effective men. With this 
small force it was impossible to keep open a communi- 
cation with Vera Cruz, and the army was left for a time 
to its own resources, until the arrival of supplies and re- 
enforcements enabled it to march upon the Mexican 
capital. 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 45 

At length, on the 7th of August, General Scott, 
having increased his effective force to nearly 1 1 ,000 
men, in addition to a moderate garrison left at Puebla, 
commenced his march from the latter place to the capi- 
tal of the republic. On the third day of their march 
they reached the pass of Rio Frio, forty-five miles dis- 
tant from theCity of Mexico. This was the highest point 
of their line of march, being 10,120 feet above the ocean. 
At this point the army had anticipated resistance, and 
indeed some defensive works had been commenced. 
But their abandonment left the road to the capital un- 
obstructed. 

A march of a few miles further and the army passed 
over the highest crest of the mountains; and one of the 
most splendid scenes of the world opened upon the eyes 
of the weary soldiers. The whole vast plain of Mexico 
was before them. The coldness of the air, their fatigue 
and danger were forgotten, and their eyes were the only 
sense that had enjoyment. Mexico with its lofty towers 
and superabundance of domes, its bright reality and its 
former fame, its modern splendor and its ancient mag- 
nificence, was before them; while around on every side 
its multitude of lakes seemed like silver stars embla- 
zoned upon a velvet mantle. On the nth the advanced 
division under General Twiggs reached Ayotla fifteen 
miles from the city. 

A direct march to the capital by the national road 
had been contemplated, but the route in that direction 
presented, from the nature of the ground and the 
strength of the fortifications, almost insurmountable dif- 
ficulties; and an approach by way of Chalco and San 
Augustin, by passing around Lakes Chalco and Xochi- 
jjjilco, to the south, was thought more practicable, and 



46 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

on the 1 8th the entire army had succeeaed in reaching 
San Augustin, ten miles south of the city, where 
arrangements were made for final operations. 

The City of Mexico, situated near the western bank 
of lyake Texcoco and surrounded by numerous canals 
and ditches, could be approached only by long, narrow 
causeways leading over impassable marshes, while the 
gates to which they conducted were strongly fortified. 
Beyond the causewa3's, commanding the outer ap- 
proaches to the city, were the strongly fortified posts of 
Chapultepec and Churubusco and the batteries ot Con- 
treras and San Antonio, armed with nearly loo cannon 
and surrounded by grounds either marshy or so covered 
by volcanic rocks that they were thought by the enemy 
entirely impracticable for military operations. 

Seven thousand Mexican troops under General 
Valencia held the exterior defense of Contreras, whilJ 
Santa Anna had a force of nearly 25,000 men in the rear, 
pepared to lend his aid where most needed. On the 
afternoon of the 19th some fighting occurred in the 
vicinity of Contreras; and early on the morning of the 
next day the batteries of that strong position were 
carried by an impetuous assault, which lasted only 
seventeen minutes. In this short space of time less than 
4,000 American troops had captured the most formidable 
entrenchments, within which were posted 7,000 Mexi-. 
cans. The post of San Antonio being flanked and un- 
supported was evacuated by its garrison, which was 
terribly cut up in the retreat. 

The fortified post of Churubusco, about four miles 
northeast from the heights of Contreras, was the next 
point of attack. Here nearly the entire army of the 
enemy was now concentrated, and here the great battle 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 



47 



of the day was fought; but on every part of the field the 
Americans were victorious, and the entire Mexican 
force was driven back upon the city, and upon the only 
remaining fortress of Chapultepec. Thus ended the 
battles of the memorable 20th of August, in which g,ooo 




GENERAt, vSCoTT. 



Americans, assailing strongly fortifitd positions, had 
vanquished an army cf 30,000 Mexicans. 

On the morning of the 21st while General Scott was 
about to take up battering positions, preparatory tc 
summoning the city to surrender, he received from the 
enemy propositions which terminated in the conclusion 



48 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

of an armistice ior the purpose of negotiating a peace. 
With surprising infatuation the enemy demanded terms 
that were due only to conquerors; and on the 7th of 
September hostilities were recommenced. On the morn- 
ing of the 8th the Molino del Rey, or "King's Mill," 
and the Casa de Meta, the principal outer defenses of 
the fortress of Chapultepec, were stormed and carried 
by General Worth after a desperate assault, in which he 
lost one-fourth of his entire force. 

The reduction of the castle of Chapultepec itself, 
situated on an abrupt, rocky height 150 feet above the 
surrounding grounds, was a still more formidable under- 
taking. Several batteries were opened against this 
position on the 12th, and on the 13th the citadel and all 
its outworks were carried by storm; but not without 
very heavy loss to the American army. The battle was 
continued during the day on the lines of the great cause- 
ways before mentioned; and when night suspended the 
dreadful conflict one division of the American army 
rested in the suburbs of Mexico and another was actu- 
ally within the gates of the city. 

During the night which followed the army of Santa 
Anna and the officers of the national government aban- 
doned the city, and at 7 o'clock on the following morn- 
ing the American flag was proudly floating to the breeze 
above the walls of the national palace of Mexico. I'he 
American army had reached its destination. Our sol- 
diers had gained the objects of their toils and sufferings; 
and, as the fruit of many victories, were at last permitted 
to repose on their laurels, in the far-famed "Halls of 
the Montezumas. " 

Thus Mexico, the capital of the ancient Aztecs, the 
seat of the Spanish-American empire in America, had 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 49 

passed from Aztec and from Spaniard to the Anglo- 
American, the bold, hardy, energetic, ingenious, invin- 
cible, ambitious and adventurous being, whose genius 
the forms of civilization cannot confine, and to whose 
dominion continents are inadequate. 

In what hour of time or limit of space shall this 
man of the moderns, this conqueror over land and seas, 
nations and governments, find rest in the completion of 
his mighty progress? Commencing his march in the 
cold regions of Scandinavia; no ice chilled his blood, no 
wilderness delaj-ed his footsteps, no labor wearied his 
industr}^ no arms arrested his march, no empire sub- 
dued his power. Over armies and over empires, over 
lands and over seas, in heat and cold, and wilderness 
and flood, amidst the desolations of death and the 
decays of disease, this north-man has moved on in 
might and majesty, steady as the footsteps of time, a-nd 
fixed as the decrees of fate. 

How singular, how romantically strange is this, — 
his wild adventure and marvelous conquest in the valley 
of valleys! How came the uorth-man and the Moorish 
Celt here to meet and here to battle, in this great Mexi- 
can valley? lyook at it! Inquire! Ask yourself how 
came they here! Are they the citizens by nature of this 
continent? Are they the aborigines of these wild and 
wonderful forests? Never! How came they then to be 
contending for the lands and groves of those whose 
children they are not? 

In the beginning of the sixteenth century Hernando 
Cortez landed on the coast; and at the head of Spanish 
troops marched on to the conquest of Mexico, over 
whose effeminate inhabitants the Spaniard for more 
than three centuries held undivided dominion. Not 



50 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

many years after the Anglo Saxon landed on the coasts 
of the northern Atlantic. He, too, marched on to con- 
quest. The native citizens of the forest disappeared be- 
fore him. Forests, mountains and Indians were ineffectual 
to oppose him. From the banks of the St. lyawrence tolhe 
Sabine he is conqueror over nature and native. In the 
south the natives die or become slaves to the S,paniard. 
In the north they fade and perish before the Anglo- 
American. 

The one spreads his empire from the Gulf of Mexico 
to the far shores of California; the other from the At- 
lantic to the mountains and western coast of Oregon. 
Each extends over breadths of land and power of re- 
sources unknown to the empires of antiquity. Eygpt 
and her millions, with the famed valley of the Nile, fade 
before the broad magnificence, the mighty growth of 
these American empires. Kven the terrible and far-see- 
ing eagles of Rome grow dizzy and dim in their sight, 
as they look down from the summits of history upon 
these continental nations — these colossal giants of the 
modern world. 

And now this Spaniard and this north-man meet, in 
battle panoply, in this valley of volcanoes, by the an- 
cient graves of unknown nations, on the lava-covered 
soil where nature once poured forth her awe-inspiring 
flames, and the brave Aztecan once sung of glory and of 
greatness. Three centuries since these warrior nations 
had left their homes beyond the wide Atlantic. ' Two 
thousand miles from each other they planted the seats 
of their empire; and now, as if time in the moral world 
had completed another of its grand revolutions, they 
have met in mortal conflict. Like the EAGIvS and the 
VUI.TURE, who had long pursued different circles in the 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 51 

heavens, and long made prey of the weak tenants of the 
air, their circles have been enlarged until they cross 
each other. They meet; they shriek; they fight. The 
victorious eagle bears the vulture to the earth and 
screams forth through the clouds his triumphant song 
of victory. 

The conquest of the Mexican capital was the finish- 
ing stroke of the war; and on the 2d of Februar}- follow- 
ing the terms of a treaty of peace were concluded upon 
b}^ the American commissioner and the Mexican govern- 
ment. This treat}^ after having received some modifi- 
cations from the American senate, was adopted by that 
body on the loth of March, and subsequently ratified by 
the Mexican congress on the 30th of May of the same 
year. 

The most important provisions of the treaty were 
those by which the United States obtained a large in- 
crease of territory, embracing that which was then 
known as New Mexico and Upper California. T^e 
boundary between the two countries was fixed in the 
center of the Rio Grande, up that stream to the southern 
boundary of New Mexico, thence westward, within pre- 
scribed limits, to the Pacific ocean. The free navigation 
of the Gulf of California and of the River Colorado was 
guaranteed to the United States. 

For the territory and privileges thus obtained the 
United States surrendered to Mexico "all castles, forts, 
territories, places and possessions" not embraced in the 
reded territories, agreed to pay Mexico $15,000,000 and 
to assume the liquidation of all debts due American citi- 
zens from the Mexican government. 

The land thus acquired was within a fraction of 
750,000 square miles, which was thereby removed from 



52 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

the policies and influences of Mexico and placed under 
those of the most liberal, free, progressive and happy 
government on the face of the earth. 

Who can assert that the establishing of American 
policies and principles firmly in Texas, and extending 
and maintaining them over New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, 
part of Colorado and all of California, has not minis 
tered to the welfare of mankind? What if they werr 
still under control of Mexico, or had passed to the 
dominion of any other nation, who could and would 
have limited the glorious destiny and beneficent in- 
fluence of our own country? 

When' America shall canonize her political saints, 
whose administrations and personal actions have 
brought glor}^, honor and profit to the commonwealth, 
Thomas Jefferson and his agents in France who oppor- 
tunely secured L,ouisiana will not deserve more brilliant 
crowns than will James K. Polk and his armed allies 
who secured Texas, New Mexico and California, upon 
which England had fixed a covetous eye, and for the 
loss of which she exacted better terms from the United 
States in the settlement of the question of the northern 
boundary of Oregon than would have been conceded 
had we not at the time been burdened with the Mexican 
contest. 

The American navy rendered very valuable services 
in the war with Mexico. The enemy had no navy, 
therefore there were no engagements upon the sea. But 
the blockade so effectually enforced by the skill and 
vigilance of the navy greatly contributed to the exclu- 
sion of food, munitions of war and even skilled officers 
and soldiers, which other nations would have willingly 
sent into Mexico but for the presence of the navy. The 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 53 

effective action of the Pacific squadron has already been 
stated, and it consisted of three frigates and six other 
war vessels, carrying in all 275 guns. 

The gulf squadron under Commodore Perry num • 
bered seven ships of war, four steamers and one brig. 
On the 14th of November the fleet took possession of 
Tampico. In the same month Tuspan and Tabasco 
were captured. Both of these cities were well defended 
by Mexican troops and fortifications, and the latter 
place being about 100 miles up a narrow and crooked 
river with defenses, the navy had, severe fighting on 
both water and land, but accomplished the capture of 
all defenses and finished their work with great credit. 

In the assault upon Vera Cruz and San Juan 
d'Ulua the navy co-operated with the army on both land 
and water. 



STATlvSTlCvS 



Of the; Unitkd States Army Engaged in the 
Mexican War. 

The following tables show the number of regulars and 
volunteers, the number furnished by each state, and the 
total strength and losses of the army: 

REGUI.ARS. 

Original army in Texas, May, 1846 3,554 

Number of recruits sent up to April i, 1848, .... 29,603 



Total regulalars 33» I57 



54 HISTORY OF TEXAS 

voi^unte;ers furnished by each state. 

Arkansas i ,423 

Alabama 3,oi i 

California 558 

Florida 323 

Georgia 2 ,047 

Indiana 4)47o 

Illinois 5,973 

Iowa 229 

Kentucky 4,800 

Louisiana 7 ,448 

Massacliusetts '. i ,047 

Maryland and the District of Columbia i)330 

Michigan 972 

Missouri , 6,739 

Mississippi 2,319 

Mormons 585 

New York 2,665 

New Jersey 424 

North Carolina 936 

Ohio 4)694 

Pennsylvania 2,464 

Soutli Carolina i ,054 

Tennessee 5.410 

Texas 6,672 

Virginia i ,303 

Wisconsin 146 

Total volunteers 69,042 

THE NAVY. 

The number of officers, marines and enlisted sailors 
may not, in the ab3ence of complete statistics, be stated 
with accuracy; but more than 10,000 men contributed 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 55 

to the conquest of Mexico, performing duty on ship- 
board as a part of the American navy, and are right- 
fully embraced in the number of combatants doing duty 
in the Mexican war, thus bringing the aggregate up to 
more than 1 10,000 in regulars, volunteers and the navy. 
The actual number in service in Mexico exceeded 80,- 
000. This number was not called out at one time, but 
in successive periods. 

At the time that the war closed, the adjutant 
general of the army reported that there were actually 
more than 40,000 men in the field. 

Of this number 150 officers and 1,500 men died in 
battle or from wounds received there; 100 officers and 
12,000 men perished by disease, always more fatal than 
shot or shell; and many more were ruined in health or 
disabled by wounds — in all about 25,000 men laid down 
their lives or sacrificed their health in the war. 

Of those who gave their lives on the battle field, or 
who died in hospitals, thousands lie in unmarked and 
unrecognizable graves, all along the routes of advance 
and around the captured cities in Mexico. 

In the American cemetery, located in the western 
suburbs of the City of Mexico, over 400 victims to shot, 
shell or disease, rest in one common grave, and over 
their remains their country has erected a monument 
which honors their place of sepulture. 

Among the chivalrous soldiers who fell at Buena 
Vista, and whose bodies were returned to their native 
states for sepulture, were Colonel McKee and lyieuten- 
ant Colonel Henry Clay, junior of Kentucky. 

The ceremonies of burial were made additionally 
impressive by the recital of the following poem, written 
by Theodore O'Harra for the occasion. 



56 HISTORY OF TEXAS 



THE BIVOUAC OK THE DEAD. 

The muffled drum's sad roll lias beat 

The soldier's last tatto; 
No more on life's parade shall meet 

The brave and daring few. 
On fame's eternal camping ground 

Their silent tents are spread, 
And glory guards with solemn round 

The bivouac of the dead. 

No rumor of the foe's advance 

Now swells upon the wind; 
No troubled thought at midnight, haunts 

Of loved ones left behind; 
No vision of the morrow's strife 

The warrior's dream alarms; 
No braying horn or screaming fife 

At dawn shall call to arms. 

Their shivered swords are red with rust, 

Their plumed heads are bowed; 
Their haughty banner trailed in dust 

Is now their martial shroud. 
And plenteous funereal tears have washed 

The red stains from each brow. 
And their proud forms in battle gashed 

Are free from anguish now. 

The neighing steed, the flashing blade, 

The trumpet's stirring blast, 
The charge, the dreadful cannonade, 

The din and shout are past; 
Nor war's wild note nor glory's peal 

Shall thrill with fierce delight 
Those breasts that never more shall feel 

The rapture of the fight. 



AND MEXICAN WAR. 57 



Like the fierce northern h-tirricane 

That sweeps the great plateau, 
Flushed with the victory yet to gain, 

Came down the serried foe. ' 

Who heard the thunder of the fray i 

Break o'er the field beneath, \ 

Knew well the watchword of the day | 

Was "Victory or death!" I 

i 

Full many a norther's breath has swept 

O'er Angostura's plain; ; 

And long the pitying sky has wept j 

Above its mouldered slain. 

The eagle's scream or raven's flight i 

Or shepherd's pensive lay I 

Alone now wake each solemn height | 

That frowned o'er that dread day. ' 

Sons of the "dark and bloody ground," 

Ye must not slumber there, 
Where stranger steps and tongues resound 

Along the heedless air. 
Your own proud land's heroic soil j 

Shall be your fitter grave. 
She claims from war her richest spoil— 

The ashes of the brave. ! 

I 

I 

So 'neath their parent turf they rest, ; 

Far from the gory field; ' 

Borne to the Spartan mother's breast 

On many a bloody shield; 
The sunshine of their native sky 

Smiles sadly on them here, 
And kindred eyes and hearts watch, by 

The heroes' sepulchre. 



58 HISTORY OF TEXAS 



Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead. 

Dear as the blood ye gave! 
No impious footsteps here shall tread 

Tlie herbage of your grave; 
Nor shall your glory be forgot 

While Fame her record keeps, 
Or Honor points the hallowed spot 

Where Valor proudly sleeps. 

Yon marble minstrel's voiceful stone 

In deathless song shall tell, 
When mauy a vanished age hath flown, 

The story how ye fell. 
Nor wreck, nor change, nor w'nter's blight, 

or time's remorseless docm 
Shall dim one ray of holy light 

That gilds your glorious tomb. 



"TARS. 



. c: 



